rtk

name: rtk description: > Token-efficient CLI proxy. Use rtk <cmd> instead of running commands directly to get compressed, AI-optimized output with 60-90% fewer tokens. Supports 100+ commands including git, go, npm, docker, curl, and more.

Quick Reference

✅ rtk for verbose output (go test, git log, docker logs) ✅ Read errors in full — rtk doesn't compress failures ❌ rtk for interactive commands (vim, ssh) Links: token-optimization, caveman

RTK — AI-Optimized CLI Proxy

rtk is a Rust CLI tool that runs commands and compresses their output for LLM consumption — same semantic content, 60-90% fewer tokens.

GitHub: https://github.com/rtk-ai/rtk

Installation

# macOS / Linux
curl -fsSL https://rtk.ai/install.sh | sh

# Or via cargo
cargo install rtk

Verify: rtk --version

Basic Usage

rtk <command> [args]

Same interface as the original command. rtk runs it, captures output, and returns a compressed summary.

# Instead of:
git log --oneline -20

# Use:
rtk git log --oneline -20

Supported Commands (Key Categories)

When to Use rtk

Use rtk for:

• Commands with verbose output (test results, build logs, git history)
• Repeated commands during debugging sessions
• Any command where you need to paste output into an AI prompt
• Long-running commands where only the summary matters

Skip rtk for:

• Interactive commands (vim, ssh, psql in interactive mode)
• Commands with binary output
• Short commands where output fits in a few lines anyway

Integration with Skeleton Agents

When skeleton agents run terminal commands for verification, use rtk to keep output compact:

# Test verification
rtk go test ./... -v

# Lint check
rtk golangci-lint run ./...

# Build verification
rtk go build ./...

# Git diff review
rtk git diff --stat HEAD~1

This reduces context consumption when agents check build/test status.

Hook Mode (Advanced)

rtk supports a hook mode that wraps all shell commands automatically:

# Add to shell profile to wrap all commands:
eval "$(rtk hook init)"

With hooks active, every command you run gets automatically proxied through rtk. Disable temporarily with rtk hook off.

Output Format

rtk preserves:

• Error messages (full, uncompressed — errors matter)
• Exit codes (mirrors the underlying command)
• Test failure details (which tests failed and why)

rtk compresses:

• Success logs (summarizes verbose pass output)
• Progress bars and spinners (replaced with final status)
• Redundant repeated lines (counts instead of repeating)
• Timestamp/PID noise in log output

Checklist

• rtk installed and rtk --version returns successfully
• Using rtk for commands with >10 lines of output
• Not using rtk for interactive commands
• Exit codes checked (same as original command)
• Error messages read fully (rtk doesn't compress errors)