claude-code-ultimate-guide/examples/skills/rtk-optimizer/SKILL.md

name	description	version	tags
rtk-optimizer	Wrap high-verbosity shell commands with RTK to reduce token consumption. Use when running git log, git diff, cargo test, pytest, or other verbose CLI output that wastes context window tokens.	1.0.0	optimization tokens efficiency git

RTK Optimizer Skill

Automatically suggest and apply RTK (Rust Token Killer) wrappers for verbose commands, reducing token usage by ~73% on average.

How It Works

1. Detect high-verbosity commands in user requests
2. Suggest RTK wrapper with expected savings
3. Execute with RTK when user confirms
4. Track savings over session via rtk gain

Prerequisites

rtk --version  # Requires rtk 0.16.0+

# Install if needed:
brew install rtk-ai/tap/rtk    # macOS/Linux
cargo install rtk               # All platforms

Supported Commands

Command	RTK Equivalent	Reduction
git log	rtk git log	92% (13,994 -> 1,076 chars)
git status	rtk git status	76%
git diff	rtk git diff	56% (15,815 -> 6,982 chars)
find	rtk find	76%
cat <large-file>	rtk read <file>	63% (163K -> 61K chars)
pnpm list	rtk pnpm list	82%
vitest run / pnpm test	rtk vitest run	90%
cargo test	rtk cargo test	90%
cargo build	rtk cargo build	80%
cargo clippy	rtk cargo clippy	80%
pytest	rtk python pytest	90%
go test	rtk go test	90%
gh pr view	rtk gh pr view	87%
gh pr checks	rtk gh pr checks	79%
ls	rtk ls	condensed
grep	rtk grep	filtered

Usage Pattern

# When user requests a verbose command:

1. Acknowledge the request
2. Suggest RTK: "I'll use `rtk git log` to reduce token usage by ~92%"
3. Execute the RTK-wrapped command
4. Report savings: "Saved ~13K tokens (baseline: 14K, RTK: 1K)"

Activation Examples

User: "Show me the git history" Action: Detect git log -> execute rtk git log -> report 92% savings

User: "Run the test suite" Action: Detect cargo test / pytest -> execute rtk cargo test -> report 90% savings

When to Skip RTK

• Small outputs (<100 chars): Overhead not worth it
• Claude built-in tools: Grep/Read tools are already optimized
• Interactive commands: RTK is for batch/non-interactive output only
• Multiple piped commands: Wrap the outermost command, not each step

Error Handling

• If rtk is not found, fall back to the raw command and suggest installation
• If RTK output is empty or malformed, re-run without RTK and report the issue
• If RTK version is outdated, warn about potential breaking changes (rapid release cadence)

Session Tracking

rtk gain  # Shows cumulative token savings for the session (SQLite-backed)

References

• RTK GitHub: https://github.com/rtk-ai/rtk
• Evaluation: docs/resource-evaluations/rtk-evaluation.md
• CLAUDE.md template: examples/claude-md/rtk-optimized.md