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Use RTK to Reduce Token Usage

rtk-ai/rtk is a Rust CLI proxy that compresses common command outputs before they are sent to your coding agent context.

In practical OpenCode sessions, this can reduce prompt/context token usage significantly on repetitive commands like git status, git diff, ls, grep, test runners, and build logs.

What RTK does in OpenCode

Section titled “What RTK does in OpenCode”

RTK can integrate with OpenCode through an OpenCode plugin hook and rewrite Bash commands to rtk ... equivalents automatically.

Examples:

  • git status → rtk git status
  • git diff → rtk git diff
  • ls → rtk ls
  • rg pattern . → rtk grep pattern .

That means you keep the same command habits while sending denser, less noisy output to the model.

Install RTK

Section titled “Install RTK”

Choose one method.

Section titled “Homebrew (recommended on macOS)”
Terminal window
brew install rtk

Script install (Linux/macOS)

Section titled “Script install (Linux/macOS)”
Terminal window
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/rtk-ai/rtk/refs/heads/master/install.sh | sh

Verify installation

Section titled “Verify installation”
Terminal window
rtk --version
rtk gain

Set up RTK in OpenCode

Section titled “Set up RTK in OpenCode”

Install the global OpenCode plugin:

Terminal window
rtk init -g --opencode

This creates:

  • ~/.config/opencode/plugins/rtk.ts

Then restart OpenCode.

Validate that OpenCode hook is active

Section titled “Validate that OpenCode hook is active”

After restart, run a few normal commands in OpenCode:

Terminal window
git status
git diff
ls

If RTK is hooked correctly, these commands are rewritten internally and produce compact summaries.

Use these checks as well:

Terminal window
rtk init --show
rtk gain --history

Important limitation

Section titled “Important limitation”

The OpenCode plugin hook applies to Bash tool execution only. Built-in non-Bash tools (for example native file readers/searchers) are not rewritten by this hook.

If you want RTK compaction for those workflows, use shell commands or explicit RTK commands such as:

  • rtk read <file>
  • rtk grep <pattern> <path>
  • rtk find "*.ts" .

Optional tuning

Section titled “Optional tuning”

RTK supports config tuning in ~/.config/rtk/config.toml (or macOS app support path), including:

  • rewrite exclusions (hooks.exclude_commands)
  • tee/full-output capture behavior for failures
  • tracking database location

This is useful if you want RTK in most places but need raw output for specific commands.

When to use RTK in this docs stack

Section titled “When to use RTK in this docs stack”

RTK is most useful when you frequently run command-heavy coding sessions and want to reduce token burn without changing your normal terminal habits.

If your sessions are mostly short or rely heavily on OpenCode built-in non-Bash tools, the impact will be smaller.

References

Section titled “References”