claude-dcp

Claude DCP — Dynamic Context Pruning for Claude Code

Intelligently manages conversation context to optimize token usage in Claude Code.

Inspired by opencode-dynamic-context-pruning for OpenCode, adapted for Claude Code's plugin and hooks architecture.

What DCP Catches That Claude Code Doesn't

Claude Code has built-in compaction, but it works differently. Here's what DCP adds:

What Happens	Without DCP	With DCP
Same tool call again (60s later)	Permission prompt appears again	Blocked — "Use a different approach"
Transcript before compaction	Full duplicate outputs sent to summarizer	Early duplicates replaced with [Output deduplicated]
Input from failed command (4 turns ago)	Still in context	Replaced with [input removed — error occurred X turns ago]
Context at 150K tokens	No warning	"Context is ~150K tokens — consider /compact"
After compaction	Context refreshes silently	"Re-read files with line limits, tool signatures still tracked"
Session statistics	None visible	"DCP Savings: 2.3KB saved (~575 tokens est.)"

DCP operates alongside Claude Code's native features, not replacing them. It preprocesses the transcript before native compaction runs, making that compaction more efficient.

Features

Feature	How It Works	Native Equivalent
Tool Deduplication	Blocks duplicate tool calls (same tool + same args) via PreToolUse hook	None — Claude Code always prompts again
Error Input Purging	Removes inputs from failed tool calls after N turns via transcript optimization	None — native compaction keeps error context
Transcript Pre-Optimization	PreCompact hook removes duplicates BEFORE compaction runs	Native compaction summarizes everything at once
Context Nudges	Warns when context is large via UserPromptSubmit hook	None
Post-Compact Re-Injection	Re-injects reminders after compaction via PostCompact hook	None
Session Statistics	Tracks cumulative bytes/tokens saved per session	None

Why Pre-Optimization Matters

Native compaction (/compact) is LLM-driven — it sends the full transcript to the model and asks it to summarize. DCP runs first and removes obvious waste:

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Before Native Compaction                    │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ transcript.jsonl                            │
│   ├── "git status" output (duplicate)       │ ← DCP removes this
│   ├── "git status" output (kept)            │ ← DCP keeps this
│   ├── error from "npm install" (4 turns)    │ ← DCP removes input, keeps error
│   ├── ...                                   │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────┘
                   ↓ DCP Pre-Optimization
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ After DCP, Before Native Compaction         │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ transcript.jsonl (now smaller)              │
│   ├── [Output deduplicated]                 │ ← Placeholder
│   ├── "git status" output (kept)            │
│   ├── [input removed — error occurred]      │ ← Error output preserved
│   ├── ...                                   │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────┘
                   ↓ Native Compaction
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Native Compaction Summary                   │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ "• Ran git status—unchanged                 │
│  • npm install failed, retry needed         │
│  • ..."                                     │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────┘

The native summarizer sees less redundant content, produces a more accurate summary, and uses fewer tokens doing it.

Platform Support

Platform	Status	Notes
macOS	Fully supported	Requires Python 3.9+
Linux	Fully supported	Requires Python 3.9+
Windows (WSL2)	Fully supported	Run Claude Code inside WSL2
Windows (native)	Limited	See note below

Windows native note: Claude Code's hook system currently has known issues on Windows native (#19012, #25832). This affects all plugins with hooks, including official Anthropic plugins. Hooks may fail silently or fire intermittently. Use WSL2 for full functionality.

Requirements

• Python 3.9+
• Claude Code CLI

Installation

From Plugin Directory (Development)

claude --plugin-dir /path/to/claude-dcp

Install Permanently

# Copy to your plugins directory
cp -r /path/to/claude-dcp ~/.claude/plugins/claude-dcp