tidyout-cli 0.2.0

CLI wrapper that compresses command output for AI agents, reducing token usage by 60-97%

tidyout

A CLI wrapper that sits between you (or your AI agent) and the terminal. Prefix any command with tidyout and tidyout executes it, strips the noise, and returns a compressed version with a token savings summary.

✂️  tidyout: 312 lines → 18 lines | saved ~2376 tokens (94% reduction)

Built for AI coding sessions (Claude Code, Cursor, Copilot) where terminal output burns tokens fast.

Install

pip install tidyout-cli

Usage

tidyout pytest tests/
tidyout git status
tidyout git log
tidyout ls -la
tidyout find . -name "*.py"
tidyout docker logs mycontainer
tidyout npm install
tidyout cargo build

Every run ends with a summary line:

✂️  tidyout: {original} lines → {compressed} lines | saved ~{tokens} tokens ({percent}% reduction)

Commands without a matching rule pass through unchanged and still show the summary (0% reduction).

Supported commands

Command	What gets stripped	Typical savings
pytest	PASSED lines, platform info, separators	~80%
git status	hints, up-to-date messages, blank lines	~60%
git log	Author email, full hashes, blank lines	~50%
ls	permissions, owner, group, timestamp — reformatted to DIR:name / F:name:size	~70%
find	.git/, node_modules/, __pycache__/, ./ prefix	~40%
tree	entries beyond depth 3, node_modules, .git, __pycache__	~50%
pip install	progress bars, Collecting/Downloading, already-satisfied	~90%
npm install	warn/notice lines, blank lines	~85%
docker logs	health check noise, keeps last 50 lines	~70%
docker ps	header, full IDs, padding — reformatted to name:status:ports	~60%
jest	passing test names, keeps failures and summary	~80%
make	Entering/Leaving directory noise	~40%
cargo build	dependency Compiling lines, Downloading	~75%

tidyout init — inject rules into your AI agent config

Running tidyout init in your project directory automatically tells your AI agent to always use tidyout:

tidyout init

It writes to all major AI agent config files at once — creating missing ones and appending to existing ones:

File	AI tool
CLAUDE.md	Claude Code
.cursorrules	Cursor
.windsurfrules	Windsurf
.github/copilot-instructions.md	GitHub Copilot

Injected block:

## Token Optimization with tidyout
Always prefix the following commands with `tidyout` when running in terminal:
pytest, npm test, jest, rspec, git status, git log, ls, find, tree,
pip install, npm install, docker logs, docker ps, make, cargo build
This reduces token usage by 60-97% on command outputs.

Contributing a new rule

See CONTRIBUTING.md — it's just one YAML file.