Stop burning tokens on weak prompts and redundant reads.
Tuned for Claude Opus 4.8 — full 1M context at standard price.
The Problem
The average Claude Code session wastes 30-50% of tokens on files that are read but never actually used. Every Read call consumes context — whether the file was relevant or not.
- A 200-line config file? 800 tokens gone.
- A README you glanced at once? 2,400 tokens burned.
- That
package.json Claude reads "just in case"? 120 tokens, every time.
At $5/M input tokens (Opus 4.8), a developer spending $100/month is lighting $30-50 on fire on irrelevant context.
The Solution
context-optimizer silently tracks every file read, edit, and search. It learns which files are actually useful and which are waste. Over time, it builds a profile of your coding patterns and tells you exactly where your tokens go — and how to stop wasting them.
What's new in v4.1 — honest & quiet
v4.1 answers one question: does it really save tokens, or just say it does? It
makes the optimizer honest and stops it from spending the context it's meant
to protect.
- Silent-by-default hooks. A context optimizer that narrates on every tool
call spends the tokens it claims to save. The per-tool-call hooks now stay
quiet unless a message is actionable (e.g. "90% budget → /compact"), capped
at a few advisory lines per session. The self-congratulatory "CCO makes your
budget 1.4x effective" line is gone.
- Honest NET savings.
/cco now reports net = tokens saved by the cache
minus the tokens CCO's own messages injected. Savings are counted by each
file's real size (a re-read of a 30-line file no longer credits "18K saved").
If the optimizer is ever net-negative, the dashboard says so.
- Big-file map-then-load. On the first full read of a very large file
(>1500 lines ≈ 14K+ tokens), the cache returns the file's structural map
once — so Claude reads the section it needs instead of slurping the whole file.
Read it again to load it fully. One-shot, configurable (
bigFileDigest).
What's new in v4.0 — Opus 4.8
v4.0 makes the plugin Opus 4.8-aware, adds a flagship Context Control Center,
and corrects the model facts.
NEW: Context Control Center — everything in one screen (/cco)
/cco is now a single, live dashboard instead of just a heatmap:
CONTEXT CONTROL CENTER opus-4.8 · 1M
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Budget ▓▓▓▓▓▓▓░░░ 142K / 200K (71%) $0.84
Saved +58K tokens by cache → 1.41x effective (12 reads blocked)
Waste ▓▓░░░░░░░░ 18% (3 cold files)
Prompt last grade: B (add a file path to be specific)
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
▶ Task #4 refactor login flow · ~31K · $0.155
✓ #3 add OAuth provider · ~22K
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
⚡ Free ~22K: drop legacy/old_api.ts, vendor/build.js → /compact
📦 Pack minimal context: /cco-pack "refactor login flow"
One screen ties together budget %, $ spent, tokens saved (effectiveness
multiplier), waste, last prompt grade, the active task's cost, and ready-to-run
actions — all from data the optimizer already tracks. Nothing to configure.
NEW: Organize work by task (/cco-task)
Track tokens and cost per task, not just per session:
$ /cco-task add "refactor login flow" # start a task
$ /cco-pack "refactor login flow" # load only the files it needs
…work…
$ /cco-task done # freezes the task's token/$ total
While a task is active, session tokens are attributed to it, so /cco shows
exactly what each task costs. One active task per project; starting a new one
finalizes the previous one automatically.
