RTK Exec Skill

Execute CLI commands through the RTK (Rust Token Killer) proxy to reduce LLM token consumption by 60-90%. RTK is a CLI command proxy — it wraps existing shell commands and compresses their output using smart filtering, grouping, truncation, and deduplication.

Important: RTK is NOT an AI prompt tool. It is a CLI output compressor. You pass it a regular shell command and it returns compressed output.

Options

<command> [args...]   Required. CLI command to proxy through RTK (e.g., "ls .", "git status", "cargo test")
--gain               Show token savings statistics (rtk gain)
--version            Show RTK version (rtk --version)
--init               Initialize RTK for current project (rtk init -g)
--timeout <ms>       Execution timeout (default: 120000, max: 600000)
--working-dir <dir>  Working directory for command execution

Workflow

1. Pre-checks
   - Verify `rtk` binary is installed (which rtk)
   - No authentication required
2. Build command
   - Special: rtk gain | rtk --version | rtk init -g
   - Proxy: rtk <command> [args...]
3. Execute
   - Run via Bash tool with timeout (default 2min, max 10min)
   - Or use helper script: node .claude/skills/rtk-exec/scripts/rtk-wrapper.cjs
4. Parse output
   - RTK always returns plain text compressed output (no JSON modes)
   - Capture stdout and stderr
5. Report results
   - Format output with execution metadata and token savings info

Supported Commands

RTK supports 100+ CLI commands across categories:

Category	Commands
File ops	ls, find, grep, cat, tree, du, diff
Git	git status, git log, git diff, git push, git pull, git branch
Test runners	cargo test, pytest, vitest, jest, go test, bun test
Linters	eslint, tsc, ruff, clippy, golangci-lint, rubocop
Package managers	pnpm install, pip install, cargo build, npm install
Containers	docker build, docker ps, kubectl get, kubectl logs
Build tools	make, cmake, gradle, mvn
System	ps, top, df, netstat, env

Output Format

Success

[RTK Exec] Completed

Command: rtk git status
Duration: 0.3s
Working Dir: /path/to/project

--- Output ---
{rtk compressed output}

Success (--gain)

[RTK Exec] Token Savings

--- Gain Report ---
{rtk gain statistics showing tokens saved per command}

Failure

[RTK Exec] Failed

Command: rtk cargo test
Error: {error_message}
Exit Code: {code}
Stderr: {stderr}
Suggested Fix: {suggestion}

Helper Script

For complex executions or programmatic use:

node .claude/skills/rtk-exec/scripts/rtk-wrapper.cjs --command "cargo test" [options]

The wrapper provides:

• Binary availability check
• Safe command construction
• Timeout handling with graceful SIGTERM → SIGKILL escalation
• Structured JSON output for programmatic consumption

Examples

# List files with compression
/rtk-exec "ls -la src/"

# Git status (often 70%+ token reduction)
/rtk-exec "git status"

# Run Rust tests
/rtk-exec "cargo test"

# Run Python tests
/rtk-exec "pytest tests/ -v"

# TypeScript type check
/rtk-exec "tsc --noEmit"

# Show token savings stats
/rtk-exec --gain

# Initialize RTK for project
/rtk-exec --init

# With timeout override
/rtk-exec "cargo build --release" --timeout 300000

# Specify working directory
/rtk-exec "git log --oneline -20" --working-dir /path/to/repo

Integration

Works with the orchestrator pattern:

• Main conversation delegates CLI execution via this skill
• Results are returned to the main conversation for further processing
• Particularly effective for test runs, lint checks, and git operations where output is verbose
• Can be chained: rtk-exec for output collection → Claude expert for analysis

Availability Check

rtk-exec requires the RTK binary to be installed. The skill is only usable when:

1. rtk binary is found in PATH (which rtk succeeds)
2. No authentication or API keys required

If the binary check fails, this skill cannot be used. Fall back to direct Bash tool execution.

Note: This skill is invoked via /rtk-exec command or delegated by the orchestrator. It is most useful for any task that produces verbose CLI output that would otherwise consume large amounts of context tokens.

Agent Teams Integration

When used within Agent Teams:

1. As delegated task: orchestrator explicitly delegates CLI execution for token-efficient output
2. Hybrid workflow: Claude team member plans → rtk-exec runs commands → Claude analyzes compressed output
3. Batch execution: Multiple rtk-exec invocations in parallel for different commands

Orchestrator delegates CLI task
  → /rtk-exec invoked with command
  → Compressed output returned to orchestrator
  → Analyst processes compressed result
  → Iterate if needed

Token Savings

RTK uses four compression strategies:

Strategy	Description	Typical Savings
Smart Filtering	Removes redundant/noise lines based on command type	30-50%
Grouping	Collapses repeated patterns into summary counts	20-40%
Truncation	Clips excessively long lines with ellipsis	10-20%
Deduplication	Removes identical repeated output blocks	15-30%

Combined effect: 60-90% token reduction on typical CLI output (git log, test results, lint reports).

Installation

# macOS via Homebrew
brew install rtk

# Universal install script
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/rtk-ai/rtk/refs/heads/master/install.sh | sh

# From source via Cargo
cargo install --git https://github.com/rtk-ai/rtk

# Verify installation
rtk --version