| name | setup-rtk |
| description | Install and configure RTK (Rust Token Killer) for CLI output compression. Opt-in utility — detects OS, downloads binary, adds to PATH, runs rtk init -g. Invoke with /setup-rtk. |
Setup RTK (Rust Token Killer)
Optional utility to install RTK — a CLI proxy that compresses Bash command output before it enters the context window. Reduces token consumption by 50-80% on common commands (git, ls, npm, etc.).
This is opt-in. RTK is not required for Crabshell to function. Users invoke /setup-rtk only when they want CLI output compression.
Steps
Step 1: Check if RTK is already installed
Run: which rtk 2>/dev/null || where rtk 2>/dev/null
- If found → report version (
rtk --version) and skip to Step 5
- If not found → proceed to Step 2
Step 2: Detect OS and architecture
OS=$(uname -s 2>/dev/null || echo "Windows")
ARCH=$(uname -m 2>/dev/null || echo "x86_64")
Map to RTK release asset name:
| OS | Arch | Asset |
|---|
| Linux | x86_64 | rtk-x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu.tar.gz |
| Linux | aarch64 | rtk-aarch64-unknown-linux-gnu.tar.gz |
| Darwin | x86_64 | rtk-x86_64-apple-darwin.tar.gz |
| Darwin | arm64 | rtk-aarch64-apple-darwin.tar.gz |
| Windows / MINGW / MSYS | x86_64 | rtk-x86_64-pc-windows-msvc.zip |
If OS/arch combination is not in the table → report and stop.
Step 3: Download and extract
mkdir -p "$HOME/tools/rtk"
curl -sL "https://github.com/rtk-ai/rtk/releases/latest/download/{ASSET}" -o /tmp/rtk-download
"$HOME/tools/rtk/rtk" --version
Step 4: Add to PATH
Detect shell config file:
- If
$SHELL contains zsh → ~/.zshrc
- If
$SHELL contains bash → ~/.bashrc
- Windows Git Bash →
~/.bashrc
Check if already in PATH config:
grep -q 'tools/rtk' "$SHELL_CONFIG" 2>/dev/null
- If already present → skip
- If not → append:
export PATH="$HOME/tools/rtk:$PATH"
Step 5: Initialize RTK for Claude Code
rtk init -g
This adds RTK usage instructions to ~/.claude/CLAUDE.md. On Windows, this uses --claude-md mode (text instructions) instead of hook mode.
Step 6: Report
Tell user:
RTK installed:
- Binary: ~/tools/rtk/rtk (or rtk.exe)
- Version: {version}
- PATH: added to {shell config file}
- Claude Code: ~/.claude/CLAUDE.md updated with RTK instructions
- Mode: {hook (Unix) or claude-md (Windows)}
Next session will automatically use RTK for Bash commands.
To verify: run `rtk --version` in a new terminal.
To uninstall: delete ~/tools/rtk/ and remove the PATH line from {shell config}.
Notes
- RTK is a third-party tool (github.com/rtk-ai/rtk), not part of Crabshell
- On Windows, RTK operates via CLAUDE.md text instructions (model must prefix commands with
rtk), not hooks
- On Unix (Mac/Linux), RTK can use PreToolUse hooks for automatic interception
- RTK only affects Bash tool output — does not touch Read/Edit/Write/Grep tools or memory pipeline
- If download fails (network issues, GitHub rate limit), report error and stop — do not retry