rtk
by rtk-ai
RTK is a small command-line program that shortens the output of everyday developer commands, such as git, test runners and file listings, before an AI coding assistant reads it. It is meant to cut the amount of text, and so the tokens, that the assistant has to process.
- Stars
- 84.7k +67 a day
- Licence
- Apache-2.0
- Runs on
- Your computer
- Setup
- Easy
- Language
- Rust
- Age
- 277 days
What you can do with it
- Compress the output of git, test, search and file-listing commands before your AI assistant reads it
- Set it up as a hook for tools such as Claude Code, Cursor, Gemini CLI, Codex or Windsurf
- Check how much text you have saved using the built-in savings dashboard (rtk gain)
Make money with it
A freelance developer could use it to keep AI coding costs down on fixed-price client projects, which protects their margin.
An idea, not financial advice. Check the licence before charging for anything built on it.
Ways a business could use it
- Lower the AI usage costs of a small development team or freelancer who pays per token for coding assistants
- Fit more useful project context into each AI session, so fewer sessions are wasted on long command output
Can you use it commercially?
Free to use, change and sell, including in paid products. Keep the copyright notice.
Not legal advice. Read the project's licence file before building a product on it.
Getting it running
Install with Homebrew, winget or a curl install script, then run rtk init -g to connect it to your AI coding tool.
Follow the official instructions in the project README.
Things to check
- Licence is mixed: the standard build combines Apache-2.0 with BUSL-1.1, which bars offering it to others as a commercial product or service
- Only compresses command output, so savings on your actual AI bill are smaller than the headline 60-90%
- Another unrelated package called rtk exists on crates.io, so check you have the right one
Checked 27 Oct 2026. Summary drafted by AI from the project's README.
