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Universal Claude.md – cut Claude output tokens

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Re: Universal Claude.md – cut Claude output tokens

#81

Post by alsetmusic »

btown wrote: post #4

It seems the benchmarks here are heavily biased towards single-shot explanatory tasks, not agentic loops where code is generated: https://github.com/drona23/claude-token-efficient/blob/main/... And I think this raises a really important question. When you're deep into a project that's iterating on a live codebase, does Claude's default verbosity, where it's allowed to expound on why it's doing what it's doing when it…

> No explaining what you are about to do. Just do it.

Came here for the same reason.

I can't calculate how many times this exact section of Claude output let me know that it was doing the wrong thing so I could abort and refine my prompt.

Re: Universal Claude.md – cut Claude output tokens

#82

Post by [deleted] »

btown wrote: post #4

It seems the benchmarks here are heavily biased towards single-shot explanatory tasks, not agentic loops where code is generated: https://github.com/drona23/claude-token-efficient/blob/main/... And I think this raises a really important question. When you're deep into a project that's iterating on a live codebase, does Claude's default verbosity, where it's allowed to expound on why it's doing what it's doing when it…

[deleted]

Re: Universal Claude.md – cut Claude output tokens

#83

Post by ryanschaefer »

The whole “Code Output” section is horrifying especially with how I have seen Claude operate in a large monorepo.

This mode of operation results in hacks on top of shaky hacks on top of even flimsier, throw away, absolutely sloppy hacks.

An example - using dict like structs instead of classes. Claude really likes to load all of the data that it can aggressively even if it’s not needed. This further exhibits itself as never wanting to add something directly to a class and instead wanting to add around it.

Re: Universal Claude.md – cut Claude output tokens

#85

Post by cruffle_duffle »

sillysaurusx wrote: post #12
david_allison wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is this available online? I'd love documentation of my prompts.

I’ll post it here, one minute. Ok, here you go: https://gist.github.com/shawwn/56d9f2e3f8f662825c977e6e5d0bf... Installation steps: - In your project, download https://gist.github.com/shawwn/56d9f2e3f8f662825c977e6e5d0bf... into .claude/commands/handoff.md - In your project's CLAUDE.md file, put "Read `docs/agents/handoff/*.md` for context." Usage: - Whenever you've finished a feature, done a coherent "thing", or oth…

Thanks!!!

Re: Universal Claude.md – cut Claude output tokens

#86

Post by caymanjim »

nvch wrote: post #34

The author offers to permanently put 400 words into the context to save 55-90 in T1-T3 benchmarks. Considering the 1:5 (input:output) token cost ratio, this could increase total spending. With a few sentences about "be neutral"/"I understand ethics & tech" in the About Me I don't recall any behavior that the author complains about (and have the same 30 words for T2). (If I were Claude, I would despise a human who wro…

Came here to point this out.

I don't think the author understands that every single API call to Claude sends the whole context, including prompts, meaning that all this extra text in CLAUDE.md is sent over and over and over again every time you prompt Claude to do something, even within a given session.

You're paying this disproportionately-huge amount upfront to save a pittance.

Re: Universal Claude.md – cut Claude output tokens

#87

Post by DeathArrow »

sillysaurusx wrote: post #7
btown wrote: post #4

It seems the benchmarks here are heavily biased towards single-shot explanatory tasks, not agentic loops where code is generated: https://github.com/drona23/claude-token-efficient/blob/main/... And I think this raises a really important question. When you're deep into a project that's iterating on a live codebase, does Claude's default verbosity, where it's allowed to expound on why it's doing what it's doing when it…

I wrote a skill called /handoff. Whenever a session is nearing a compaction limit or has served its usefulness, it generates and commits a markdown file explaining everything it did or talked about. It’s called /handoff because you do it before a compaction. (“Isn’t that what compaction is for?” Yes, but those go away. This is like a permanent record of compacted sessions.) I don’t know if it helps maintain long term…

I think Cursor does something similar under the hood.

Re: Universal Claude.md – cut Claude output tokens

#88

Post by adrianN »

airstrike wrote: post #50
dataviz1000 wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh, so the word 'gate' is probably in the documentation also! I see. So this isn't as scary. Claude is helping me understand how to use it properly.

Why would it be scary? Claude is just parroting other human knowledge. It has no goal or agency.

You can’t verify that there is no influence by the makers of Claude.

Re: Universal Claude.md – cut Claude output tokens

#89

Post by verdverm »

I originally took my prompts from Claude Code≈ (https://github.com/Piebald-AI/claude-code-system-prompts)https://github.com/Piebald-AI/claude-code-system-prompts and subsequently edited them to remove guardrails and and output formatting like this post. I too included the last bit about user prompts overriding system prompt, but like any good LLM, it doesn't always follow instructions.

Re: Universal Claude.md – cut Claude output tokens

#90

Post by verdverm »

monooso wrote: post #15

Paul Kinlan published a blog post a couple of days ago [1] with some interesting data, that show output tokens only account for 4% of token usage. It's a pretty wide-reaching article, so here's the relevant quote (emphasis mine): > Real-world data from OpenRouter’s programming category shows 93.4% input tokens, 2.5% reasoning tokens, and just 4.0% output tokens . It’s almost entirely input. [1]: https://aifoc.us/the-…

My own output token ratio is 2% (50% savings on the expensive tokens, I include thinking in this, which is often more). I have similar tone and output formatting system prompt content.
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