9 Ways to Cut Token Consumption in Claude Code

Developer Harsh Posted on May 30 • Originally published at composio.dev 9 Ways to Cut Token Consumption in Claude Code # ai # programming # productivity # claude After using Claude Code for serious coding work, the biggest lesson is simple: token consumption is not mainly a pricing issue. It is a workflow problem. When my Claude Code session gets messy, performance drops. It starts rereading irrelevant files, remembering failed attempts, carrying old logs, and wasting context on things that no longer matter. So my workflow is built around one principle: Keep Claude's active context small, clean, and useful. These are the 9 best ways to reduce token consumption in Claude Code that I use every day and can probably help you too. tldr; Don't send raw logs or full test results. Use filters and simple command wrappers to show only what matters: the error, the stack trace, the key details. Sonnet handles most coding work fine and costs less. Use Opus for the really hard problems. For helper tasks and exploration, use Haiku. Don't run expensive models on simple edits, and turn off extended thinking when you don't need deep reasoning. Use /compact during a cleanup task while keeping what's important. Use /clear with a handoff file when switching to something completely different. This doesn’t let old failed attempts pile up in context memory. Only put instructions that Claude needs most of the time (how to run tests, build commands, folder structure, main rules). Keep everything else in separate skill files and only load them when you actually need them, saving your tokens. Use Composio MCP to manage 1000+ tools as a single system instead of juggling 30+ active servers. When tasks are simple enough to use shell commands, use the composio CLI. Filter the tool output before Claude sees it Raw logs are garbage for context. Claude does not need a 10,000-line test output. Instead, it needs the failing test, the stack trace, the expected vs. received values, and maybe the cha