/token-coach

name: token-coach
description: Coaches a token-efficient Claude Code or Codex setup from the user's own usage data. Use when planning a build, fixing a slow or costly setup, or deciding which workflow steps need a model.

Token Coach

A coaching conversation about where the user's tokens go and what to change, grounded in numbers measured on their machine. The deliverable is a short, prioritised action plan the user agrees with. For a full audit that edits their setup, hand over to `token-optimizer`. Token Optimizer's own skills (`token-optimizer`, `token-coach`, `token-dashboard`, `fleet-auditor`, `resume-checkpoint`) are the measurement layer, so leave them out of every unused-skill, archive or consolidation suggestion, however rarely they run.

1. Collect the data

Run exactly this first. It finds the newest installed copy, so a stale plugin cache never answers. Each Bash call is a fresh shell, so env vars do not persist: the block echoes the resolved values, and every later command must use them verbatim.

RUNTIME="${TOKEN_OPTIMIZER_RUNTIME:-}"
if [ -z "$RUNTIME" ]; then
  # Harness config-dir env sits above CLAUDECODE, which every Claude Code child inherits.
  if [ -n "$CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT" ] || [ -n "$CLAUDE_PLUGIN_DATA" ]; then RUNTIME="claude"
  elif [ -n "$OPENCODE" ] || [ -n "$OPENCODE_BIN" ] || [ -n "$OPENCODE_CONFIG_DIR" ] || [ -n "$OPENCODE_CONFIG" ]; then RUNTIME="opencode"
  elif [ -n "$CODEX_HOME" ]; then RUNTIME="codex"
  elif [ -n "$HERMES_HOME" ]; then RUNTIME="hermes"
  elif [ -n "$COPILOT_HOME" ] || [ -n "$TOKEN_OPTIMIZER_COPILOT_HOME" ]; then RUNTIME="copilot"
  elif [ -n "$TOKEN_OPTIMIZER_CURSOR_HOME" ]; then RUNTIME="cursor"
  elif [ -n "$TOKEN_OPTIMIZER_ANTIGRAVITY_HOME" ]; then RUNTIME="antigravity"
  elif [ -n "$GROK_HOME" ] || [ -n "$TOKEN_OPTIMIZER_GROK_HOME" ]; then RUNTIME="grok"
  elif [ -n "$CLAUDECODE" ] || [ -n "$CLAUDE_CODE_ENTRYPOINT" ] || [ -n "$CLAUDE_CODE_SESSION_ID" ]; then RUNTIME="claude"
  elif [ -d "$HOME/.cursor/token-optimizer" ]; then RUNTIME="cursor"
  elif [ -d "$HOME/.config/opencode" ] && [ ! -d "$HOME/.codex" ]; then RUNTIME="opencode"
  elif [ -d "$HOME/.codex" ]; then RUNTIME="codex"
  else RUNTIME="claude"
  fi
fi

# Resolve measure.py to the NEWEST installed copy across channels so a stale
# plugin-cache copy never shadows a fresh install (find -L follows the
# install.sh symlink; cd -P resolves it before reading each copy's plugin.json).
MEASURE_PY=""; _best_ver=""
while IFS= read -r _cand; do
  [ -f "$_cand" ] || continue
  _root="$(cd -P -- "$(dirname -- "$_cand")/../../.." 2>/dev/null && pwd)"
  _ver="$(sed -n 's/.*"version"[[:space:]]*:[[:space:]]*"\([^"]*\)".*/\1/p' "$_root/.claude-plugin/plugin.json" 2>/dev/null | head -1)"
  [ -n "$_ver" ] || _ver="0.0.0"
  if [ -z "$_best_ver" ] || [ "$(printf '%s\n%s\n' "$_ver" "$_best_ver" | sort -t. -k1,1n -k2,2n -k3,3n -k4,4n | tail -n1)" = "$_ver" ]; then
    _best_ver="$_ver"; MEASURE_PY="$_cand"
  fi
done <<EOF
$(find -L "$HOME/.claude/skills" "$HOME/.claude/plugins/cache" "$HOME/.claude/token-optimizer" "$HOME/.codex/skills" "$HOME/.codex/plugins/cache" "$HOME/.config/opencode/plugins/cache" "$HOME/.config/opencode/plugins" -type f -name measure.py -path '*token-optimizer*/scripts/measure.py' 2>/dev/null)
EOF
# Cursor-only installs have a locator for the canonical measure.py.
if [ -z "$MEASURE_PY" ]; then
  _cursor_loc="${TOKEN_OPTIMIZER_CURSOR_HOME:-$HOME/.cursor}/token-optimizer/plugin/measure-path"
  [ -f "$_cursor_loc" ] && MEASURE_PY="$(head -n1 "$_cursor_loc" 2>/dev/null)"
fi
if [ -z "$MEASURE_PY" ] || [ ! -f "$MEASURE_PY" ]; then echo "[Error] measure.py not found. Is Token Optimizer installed?"; exit 1; fi

# Resolve an interpreter that really runs Python. On native-Windows Git Bash
# `python3` is often the Microsoft Store alias stub, which fails silently under
# a pipe (#301). Probe `python` first there, `python3` first elsewhere; require >=3.9.
PY=""; _py_candidates="python3 python"
case "$(uname -s 2>/dev/null)" in MINGW*|MSYS*|CYGWIN*) _py_candidates="python python3" ;; esac
for _py in $_py_candidates; do
  command -v "$_py" >/dev/null 2>&1 || continue
  _py_ver="$("$_py" -c 'import sys; print(f"{sys.version_info.major}.{sys.version_info.minor}")' 2>/dev/null)" || _py_ver=""
  _py_major="$(echo "$_py_ver" | cut -d. -f1)"; _py_minor="$(echo "$_py_ver" | cut -d. -f2)"
  [ -n "$_py_major" ] && [ -n "$_py_minor" ] || continue
  case "$_py_major$_py_minor" in *[!0-9]*) continue ;; esac
  if [ "$_py_major" -lt 3 ] 2>/dev/null || { [ "$_py_major" -eq 3 ] && [ "$_py_minor" -lt 9 ]; } 2>/dev/null; then continue; fi
  PY="$_py"; break
done
if [ -z "$PY" ]; then echo "[Error] Python 3.9+ not found (the Windows Store python3 stub does not count). Install Python, then retry."; exit 1; fi
export TOKEN_OPTIMIZER_RUNTIME="$RUNTIME"
# The coach files ship beside measure.py, so they are always the same version.
COACH_DIR="$(cd -P -- "$(dirname -- "$MEASURE_PY")/../../token-coach" 2>/dev/null && pwd)"
[ -d "$COACH_DIR/references" ] || echo "[Error] token-coach references not found beside $MEASURE_PY. Reinstall Token Optimizer." >&2

# Separate Bash calls do not share shell state: copy these into every later command.
# They print to stderr so a --json command chained in the same call keeps stdout parseable.
printf 'RUNTIME=%q\n' "$RUNTIME" >&2
printf 'MEASURE_PY=%q\n' "$MEASURE_PY" >&2
printf 'PY=%q\n' "$PY" >&2
printf 'COACH_DIR=%q\n' "$COACH_DIR" >&2

Then gather, skipping any command that fails (older installs lack some):

# These commands scan only Claude Code / Codex.
if [ "$RUNTIME" = "claude" ] || [ "$RUNTIME" = "codex" ]; then
  "$PY" "$MEASURE_PY" coach --json                    # snapshot, patterns, history, questions
  "$PY" "$MEASURE_PY" quality current --json          # this session's quality score and issues
  "$PY" "$MEASURE_PY" subagent-cache status --json    # Claude Code: subagent cache lifetime and its payoff
  "$PY" "$MEASURE_PY" compact-advi