rtk

rtk filters and compresses command outputs before they reach your LLM context. Single Rust binary, 100+ supported commands, <10ms overhead.

Token Savings (30-min Claude Code Session)

| Operation | Frequency | Standard | rtk | Savings | |-----------|-----------|----------|-----|---------| | ls / tree | 10x | 2,000 | 400 | -80% | | cat / read | 20x | 40,000 | 12,000 | -70% | | grep / rg | 8x | 16,000 | 3,200 | -80% | | git status | 10x | 3,000 | 600 | -80% | | git diff | 5x | 10,000 | 2,500 | -75% | | git log | 5x | 2,500 | 500 | -80% | | git add/commit/push | 8x | 1,600 | 120 | -92% | | cargo test / npm test | 5x | 25,000 | 2,500 | -90% | | ruff check | 3x | 3,000 | 600 | -80% | | pytest | 4x | 8,000 | 800 | -90% | | go test | 3x | 6,000 | 600 | -90% | | docker ps | 3x | 900 | 180 | -80% | | Total | | ~118,000 | ~23,900 | -80% |

Estimates based on medium-sized TypeScript/Rust projects. Actual savings vary by project size.

Installation

Homebrew (recommended)

brew install rtk

Quick Install (Linux/macOS)

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/rtk-ai/rtk/refs/heads/master/install.sh | sh

Installs to ~/.local/bin. Add to PATH if needed:

echo 'export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"' >> ~/.bashrc  # or ~/.zshrc

Cargo

cargo install --git https://github.com/rtk-ai/rtk

Pre-built Binaries

Download from releases:

• macOS: rtk-x86_64-apple-darwin.tar.gz / rtk-aarch64-apple-darwin.tar.gz
• Linux: rtk-x86_64-unknown-linux-musl.tar.gz / rtk-aarch64-unknown-linux-gnu.tar.gz
• Windows: rtk-x86_64-pc-windows-msvc.zip

Verify Installation

rtk --version   # Should show "rtk 0.28.2"
rtk gain        # Should show token savings stats

Name collision warning: Another project named "rtk" (Rust Type Kit) exists on crates.io. If rtk gain fails, you have the wrong package. Use cargo install --git above instead.

Quick Start

# 1. Install for your AI tool
rtk init -g                     # Claude Code / Copilot (default)
rtk init -g --gemini            # Gemini CLI
rtk init -g --codex             # Codex (OpenAI)
rtk init -g --agent cursor      # Cursor
rtk init --agent windsurf       # Windsurf
rtk init --agent cline          # Cline / Roo Code

# 2. Restart your AI tool, then test
git status  # Automatically rewritten to rtk git status

The hook transparently rewrites Bash commands (e.g., git status -> rtk git status) before execution. Claude never sees the rewrite, it just gets compressed output.

Important: the hook only runs on Bash tool calls. Claude Code built-in tools like Read, Grep, and Glob do not pass through the Bash hook, so they are not auto-rewritten. To get RTK's compact output for those workflows, use shell commands (cat/head/tail, rg/grep, find) or call rtk read, rtk grep, or rtk find directly.

How It Works

  Without rtk:                                    With rtk:

  Claude  --git status-->  shell  -->  git         Claude  --git status-->  RTK  -->  git
    ^                                   |            ^                      |          |
    |        ~2,000 tokens (raw)        |            |   ~200 tokens        | filter   |
    +-----------------------------------+            +------- (filtered) ---+----------+

Four strategies applied per command type:

1. Smart Filtering - Removes noise (comments, whitespace, boilerplate)
2. Grouping - Aggregates similar items (files by directory, errors by type)
3. Truncation - Keeps relevant context, cuts redundancy
4. Deduplication - Collapses repeated log lines with counts

Commands

Files

rtk ls .                        # Token-optimized directory tree
rtk read file.rs                # Smart file reading
rtk read file.rs -l aggressive  # Signatures only (strips bodies)
rtk smart file.rs               # 2-line heuristic code summary
rtk find "*.rs" .               # Compact find results
rtk grep "pattern" .            # Grouped search results
rtk diff file1 file2            # Condensed diff

Git

rtk git status                  # Compact status
rtk git log -n 10               # One-line commits
rtk git diff                    # Condensed diff
rtk git add                     # -> "ok"
rtk git commit -m "msg"         # -> "ok abc1234"
rtk git push                    # -> "ok main"
rtk git pull                    # -> "ok 3 files +10 -2"

GitHub CLI

rtk gh pr list                  # Compact PR listing
rtk gh pr view 42               # PR details + checks
rtk gh issue list               # Compact issue listing
rtk gh run list                 # Workflow run status

Test Runners

rtk test cargo test             # Show failures only (-90%)
rtk err npm run build           # Errors/warnings only
rtk vitest run                  # Vitest compact (failures only)
rtk playwright test             # E2E results (failures only)
rtk pytest                      # Python tests (-90%)
rtk go test                     # Go tests (NDJSON, -90%)
rtk cargo test                  # Cargo tests (-90%)
rtk rake test                   # Ruby minitest (-90%)
rtk rspec                       # RSpec tests (JSON, -60%+)

Build & Lint

rtk lint                        # ESLint grouped by rule/file
rtk lint biome                  # Supports other linters
rtk tsc                         # TypeScript errors grouped by file
rtk next build                  # Next.js build compact
rtk prettier --check .          # Files needing formatting
rtk cargo build                 # Cargo build (-80%)
rtk cargo clippy                # Cargo clippy (-80%)
rtk ruff check                  # Python linting (JSON, -80%)
rtk golangci-lint run           # Go linting (JSON, -85%)
rtk rubocop                     # Ruby linting (JSON, -60%+)

Package Managers

rtk pnpm list                   # Compact dependency tree
rtk pip list                    # Python packages (auto-detect uv)
rtk pip outdated                # Outdated packages
rtk bundle install              # Ruby gems (strip Using lines)
rtk prisma generate             # Schema generation (no ASCII art)

AWS

rtk aws sts get-caller-identity # One-line identity
rtk aws ec2 describe-instances  # Compact instance list
rtk aws lambda list-functions   # Name/runtime/memory (strips secrets)
rtk aws logs get-log-events     # Timestamped messages only
rtk aws cloudformation describe-stack-events  # Failures first
rtk aws dynamodb scan           # Unwraps type annotations
rtk aws iam list-roles          # Strips policy documents
rtk aws s3 ls                   # Truncated with tee recovery

Containers

rtk docker ps                   # Compact container list
rtk docker images               # Compact image list
rtk docker logs <container>     # Deduplicated logs
rtk docker compose ps           # Compose services
rtk kubectl pods                # Compact pod list
rtk kubectl logs <pod>          # Deduplicated logs
rtk kubectl services            # Compact service list

Data & Analytics

rtk json config.json            # Structure without values
rtk deps                        # Dependencies summary
rtk env -f AWS                  # Filtered env vars
rtk log app.log                 # Deduplicated logs
rtk curl <url>                  # Auto-detect JSON + schema
rtk wget <url>                  # Download, strip progress bars
rtk summary <long command>      # Heuristic summary
rtk proxy <command>             # Raw passthrough + tracking

Token Savings Analytics

rtk gain                        # Summary stats
rtk gain --graph                # ASCII graph (last 30 days)
rtk gain --history              # Recent command history
rtk gain --daily                # Day-by-day breakdown
rtk gain --all --format json    # JSON export for dashboards

rtk discover                    # Find missed savings opportunities
rtk discover --all --since 7    # All projects, last 7 days

rtk session                     # Show RTK adoption across recent sessions

Global Flags

-u, --ultra-compact    # ASCII icons, inline format (extra token savings)
-v, --verbose          # Increase verbosity (-v, -vv, -vvv)

Examples

Directory listing: