Rtk Compress

Save 60-90% of LLM tokens on shell commands, file reads, and test outputs. Wraps rtk CLI for compressed output.

Save 60-90% of LLM tokens on shell commands, file reads, and test outputs.

This skill wraps rtk (Rust Token Killer) — a CLI proxy that filters and compresses command outputs before they reach your LLM context.

Install

bash

# 1. Install rtk
brew install rtk          # macOS
# or: curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/rtk-ai/rtk/refs/heads/master/install.sh | sh

# 2. Verify
rtk gain  # Should show token savings stats

Then copy this SKILL.md to your agent's skills directory.

Commands Reference

Smart File Operations

bash

rtk ls .                                # Token-optimized directory tree
rtk read file.rs                         # Smart file reading (compressed output)
rtk read file.rs -l aggressive           # Signatures only (strips bodies)
rtk smart file.rs                      # 2-line heuristic code summary

Search & Diff

bash

rtk find "*.rs" .                        # Compact find results
rtk grep "pattern" .                    # Grouped search results
rtk diff file1 file2                    # Condensed diff

Git Operations

bash

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

bash

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

bash

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%)

Build & Lint

bash

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%)

Package Managers

bash

rtk pnpm list                          # Compact dependency tree
rtk pip list                           # Python packages (auto-detect uv)
rtk pip outdated                         # Outdated packages
rtk prisma generate                     # Schema generation (no ASCII art)

Containers

bash

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

bash

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

bash

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

Rules for the Agent

Use rtk <command> instead of bare commands whenever possible:

Always use rtk for:

• rtk git status / rtk git log / rtk git diff
• rtk ls -la / rtk cat <file>
• rtk npm test / rtk pytest / rtk cargo test
• rtk npm run build / rtk ruff check

Don't use rtk for:

• Commands whose output is piped to other tools (e.g., git log | grep ...)
• Scripts that parse raw output
• Commands where you need the exact full output

If rtk fails:

Fall back to the bare command. Never block a task because of compression.

Check savings:

bash

rtk gain           # current session
rtk gain --global  # all-time stats

Token Savings Reference

Operation	Without rtk	With rtk	Savings
git status	~300	~60	-80%
git log -20	~2,000	~400	-80%
cat file.ts	~2,000	~600	-70%
npm test	~5,000	~500	-90%
pytest	~2,000	~200	-90%
Typical session	~150k	~45k	-70%

Links

• rtk: https://github.com/rtk-ai/rtk
• OpenClaw feature request: https://github.com/openclaw/openclaw/issues/35053