claude-token-reducer 1.4.0

Open-source local-first context compression and token reduction pipeline for Claude Code with hybrid retrieval (BM25 + vectors), reranking, and AST-aware chunking.

Token Reducer

Cut Claude API costs by 90%+ with intelligent context compression

The open-source alternative to expensive context management tools.

Easy Install • Features • Documentation • Contributing

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The Problem

Every time you use Claude with a large codebase, you're paying for thousands of tokens that aren't relevant to your query. Most context management tools either:

• Send everything (expensive)
• Truncate blindly (loses important context)
• Require heavy Language Servers (slow, resource-intensive)

The Solution

Token Reducer is a local-first, intelligent context compression pipeline that:

• Reduces tokens by 90-98% while preserving semantic relevance
• Runs entirely locally — no API calls, no data leaving your machine
• Works in milliseconds — faster than Language Server alternatives
• Understands code semantically — AST parsing, not just text matching

┌─────────────────┐     ┌───────────────┐     ┌──────────────────┐
│  Your Codebase  │────▶│ Token Reducer │────▶│  Compressed      │
│  (50,000 tokens)│     │   Pipeline    │     │  Context (500t)  │
└─────────────────┘     └───────────────┘     └──────────────────┘
                              │
                    ┌─────────┴─────────┐
                    │  - AST Chunking   │
                    │  - BM25 + Vector  │
                    │  - TextRank       │
                    │  - Import Graph   │
                    │  - 2-Hop Symbols  │
                    └───────────────────┘

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Easy Install

Option 1 — Claude Code /plugin Command (Recommended)

Step 1: Register the marketplace (one-time setup):

/plugin marketplace add Madhan230205/token-reducer

This registers the marketplace as Madhan230205-token-reducer.

Step 2: Install:

/plugin install token-reducer@Madhan230205-token-reducer

For project-scoped install:

/plugin install token-reducer@Madhan230205-token-reducer --scope project

Already ran Step 1 before? Just run /plugin install token-reducer@Madhan230205-token-reducer — no need to add the marketplace again.

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Option 2 — Git Clone (Manual)

# 1. Clone into your Claude plugins folder
git clone https://github.com/Madhan230205/token-reducer.git ~/.claude/plugins/token-reducer

# 2. Install dependencies (optional but recommended for best results)
pip install -r ~/.claude/plugins/token-reducer/requirements-optional.txt

Windows users: Replace ~/.claude/plugins/ with %USERPROFILE%\.claude\plugins\

Then open ~/.claude/settings.json and add:

{
  "plugins": ["~/.claude/plugins/token-reducer"]
}

Restart Claude Code. Done.

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What requirements-optional.txt installs:

Package	Purpose
sentence-transformers	Neural embeddings for smarter retrieval
hnswlib / faiss-cpu	Fast approximate nearest-neighbor search
tree-sitter + language grammars	AST-based code chunking (Python, JS, TS, Go, Rust, Java, C/C++, Ruby)

If you skip this step, Token Reducer still works using hash embeddings and regex chunking — no ML libraries required.

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Option 3 — Zero-Dependency Quick Start

No pip, no ML libs — runs immediately after cloning:

git clone https://github.com/Madhan230205/token-reducer.git
cd token-reducer
python scripts/context_pipeline.py run \
  --inputs ./src \
  --query "Find auth logic" \
  --embedding-backend hash \
  --db .cache/index.db

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Features

Core Pipeline

• Hybrid Retrieval — BM25 + semantic vector search with intelligent fallback
• AST-Based Chunking — Tree-sitter parsing for Python, TypeScript, Go, Rust, Java, and more
• TextRank Compression — Graph-based sentence scoring for intelligent summarization
• Sub-100ms Queries — SQLite FTS5 + HNSW indexes for instant results
• Local-First — Everything runs on your machine, no external APIs

LSP-Killer Features

• Import Graph — Automatically maps file dependencies without Language Server
• 2-Hop Symbol Expansion — Auto "go-to-definition" for referenced functions
• Diff Protocol — SEARCH/REPLACE edit format with automatic application
• Semantic Clustering — Groups similar chunks to avoid redundancy

Enterprise Ready

• Fully Configurable — 40+ tunable parameters in settings.json
• Embedding Flexibility — ML models or hash fallback (zero dependencies)
• Query Caching — Intelligent TTL-based caching for repeated queries
• Session Memory — Tracks context across conversation turns

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Documentation

How It Works

Query → FTS(BM25) → (Vector fallback if needed) → Merge → Top 5 → Compress

Full pipeline:

PREPROCESS → INDEX → RETRIEVE → RE-RANK → COMPRESS → CONTEXT PACKET

Basic Usage

# Index your codebase
python scripts/context_pipeline.py index --inputs ./src --db .cache/index.db

# Query with compression
python scripts/context_pipeline.py query \
  --query "How does authentication work?" \
  --db .cache/index.db \
  --json

# One-shot: index + query
python scripts/context_pipeline.py run \
  --inputs ./src \
  --query "Find the database connection logic" \
  --db .cache/index.db

Configuration

All settings in settings.json:

{
  "tokenReducer": {
    "chunkSizeWords": 220,
    "embeddingModel": "jinaai/jina-embeddings-v2-base-code",
    "hybridMode": "fallback",
    "astChunkingEnabled": true,
    "textRankEnabled": true,
    "lspFeatures": {
      "importGraphEnabled": true,
      "twoHopExpansionEnabled": true
    }
  }
}

Full Configuration Reference

Setting	Default	Description
chunkSizeWords	220	Target words per chunk
embeddingBackend	"ml"	"ml" for neural, "hash" for zero-dep
embeddingModel	jina-v2-code	Code-optimized embeddings
hybridMode	"fallback"	"fallback" or "always" for vector
astChunkingEnabled	true	Use tree-sitter AST parsing
textRankEnabled	true	Graph-based sentence scoring
importGraphEnabled	true	Track file dependencies
twoHopExpansionEnabled	true	Auto-expand referenced symbols
compressionWordBudget	350	Max words in compressed output

Zero-Dependency Mode

Run without any ML libraries:

python scripts/context_pipeline.py run \
  --inputs ./src \
  --query "Find auth logic" \
  --embedding-backend hash \
  --db .cache/index.db

Apply Code Edits

python scripts/apply_diff.py --input claude_response.txt --dir ./src
python scripts/apply_diff.py --input response.txt --dry-run

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Architecture

Technology Stack

• Storage: SQLite with FTS5 + custom embeddings table
• Chunking: Tree-sitter AST parsing with regex fallback
• Embeddings: Jina Code v2 (or zero-dependency hash embeddings)
• ANN Search: HNSW via hnswlib (with FAISS fallback)
• Compression: TextRank + query-relevance scoring

Repository Structure

token-reducer/
├── .claude-plugin/plugin.json
├── .mcp.json
├── .env.example
├── settings.json
├── requirements-optional.txt
├── scripts/
├── hooks/
├── commands/
├── agents/
├── skills/
└── evals/

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Contributing

If anyone is interested in contributing, this project is open to contributions. Please see contribute.md for contribution guidelines.

git clone https://github.com/Madhan230205/token-reducer.git
cd token-reducer
pip install -e ".[dev]"
python scripts/context_pipeline.py self-test

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License

MIT License — see LICENSE for details.

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Acknowledgments

• Tree-sitter for AST parsing
• Sentence Transformers for embeddings
• SQLite FTS5 for blazing-fast text search
• hnswlib for approximate nearest neighbors

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Star this repo if Token Reducer saves you money!

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