| name | rtk-commands |
| description | Use when you need a quick reference for which RTK commands exist, what they do, expected token savings per command, and which flags affect compression behavior |
RTK Commands Reference
Overview
RTK supports 100+ commands across all major development ecosystems. This skill is a quick-reference cheat sheet so you know exactly which commands to route through rtk_run.
Core principle: If a command produces text output and is non-interactive, RTK almost certainly supports it. When unsure, use rtk_should_use to check.
Command Categories
📁 Files (replaces ls, cat, find, grep)
| RTK Command | Replaces | Savings | Notes |
|---|
rtk ls . | ls, tree | ~80% | Token-optimized directory tree |
rtk read file.rs | cat, head, tail | ~30% | Smart file reading, minimal filter |
rtk read file.rs -l aggressive | cat | ~74% | Signatures only, strips function bodies |
rtk read file.rs -l none | cat | 0% | No filtering, raw output |
rtk smart file.rs | — | ~95% | 2-line heuristic code summary |
rtk find "*.rs" . | find, fd | ~80% | Grouped by directory |
rtk grep "pattern" . | grep, rg | ~80% | Grouped by file |
rtk diff file1 file2 | diff | ~60% | Condensed diff |
rtk wc | wc | ~50% | Compact word/line count |
🔀 Git
| RTK Command | Savings | Output Example |
|---|
rtk git status | ~80% | main | 3M 1? 1A + file list |
rtk git log -n 10 | ~80% | One-line per commit: abc123 Fix bug |
rtk git diff | ~75% | file.rs (+5/-2) + changed lines |
rtk git show | ~80% | Commit summary + stat + compact diff |
rtk git add | ~92% | ok |
rtk git commit -m "msg" | ~92% | ok abc1234 |
rtk git push | ~92% | ok main |
rtk git pull | ~92% | ok 3 files +10 -2 |
rtk git fetch | ~90% | ok fetched (N new refs) |
rtk git branch | ~70% | Compact branch list |
rtk git stash | ~80% | Compact stash operations |
Passthrough: Unsupported git subcommands (rebase, cherry-pick, tag, etc.) are passed to git unchanged, output tracked.
🐙 GitHub CLI
| RTK Command | Savings |
|---|
rtk gh pr list | ~80% |
rtk gh pr view 42 | ~87% |
rtk gh pr checks | ~79% |
rtk gh issue list | ~80% |
rtk gh run list | ~82% |
rtk gh api <endpoint> | ~26% |
🧪 Test Runners
| RTK Command | Savings | Strategy |
|---|
rtk cargo test | ~90% | Failures only |
rtk cargo nextest run | ~90% | Failures only |
rtk jest | ~99% | Failures only |
rtk vitest | ~99% | Failures only |
rtk playwright test | ~94% | Failures only |
rtk pytest | ~90% | Failures only |
rtk go test | ~90% | NDJSON parsing |
rtk rake test | ~90% | Failures only |
rtk rspec | ~60%+ | JSON parsing |
rtk test <any command> | ~90% | Generic wrapper — failures only |
rtk err <any command> | ~80% | Errors/warnings only |
🔨 Build & Lint
| RTK Command | Savings |
|---|
rtk cargo build | ~80% |
rtk cargo check | ~80% |
rtk cargo clippy | ~80% |
rtk tsc | ~83% |
rtk lint / rtk lint biome | ~84% |
rtk next build | ~87% |
rtk prettier --check . | ~70% |
rtk ruff check | ~80% |
rtk mypy | ~70% |
rtk golangci-lint run | ~85% |
rtk rubocop | ~60%+ |
rtk dotnet build | ~70% |
📦 Package Managers
| RTK Command | Savings |
|---|
rtk pnpm list | ~70% |
rtk pip list / pip outdated | ~60% |
rtk bundle install | ~60% |
rtk prisma generate | ~80% |
rtk cargo install | ~70% |
🐳 Containers & Cloud
| RTK Command | Savings |
|---|
rtk docker ps | ~80% |
rtk docker images | ~70% |
rtk docker logs <container> | ~60% |
rtk docker compose ps | ~70% |
rtk kubectl pods | ~70% |
rtk kubectl logs <pod> | ~60% |
rtk kubectl services | ~70% |
rtk aws sts get-caller-identity | ~70% |
rtk aws ec2 describe-instances | ~70% |
rtk aws lambda list-functions | ~80% |
rtk aws s3 ls | ~60% |
📊 Data & Analytics
| RTK Command | Savings | Notes |
|---|
rtk json config.json | ~70% | Structure without values |
rtk deps | ~60% | Dependencies summary |
rtk env -f AWS | ~80% | Filtered env vars |
rtk log app.log | ~70% | Deduplicated logs |
rtk curl <url> | ~50% | Truncate + save full |
rtk wget <url> | ~50% | Download, strip progress |
rtk summary <cmd> | ~80% | Heuristic summary |
rtk proxy <cmd> | 0% | Raw passthrough + tracking |
📈 Token Savings Analytics
| RTK Command | Purpose |
|---|
rtk gain | Summary stats |
rtk gain --graph | ASCII graph (last 30 days) |
rtk gain --history | Recent command history |
rtk gain --daily | Day-by-day breakdown |
rtk gain --all --format json | JSON export |
rtk discover | Find missed savings opportunities |
rtk session | RTK adoption across recent sessions |
Flag-Aware Behavior
RTK respects user intent via flags:
| Scenario | Behavior |
|---|
| Default (no flags) | Aggressive compression |
--nocapture / --verbose | Preserves more output (user asked for detail) |
-u / --ultra-compact | Extra compression with ASCII icons |
-v / -vv / -vvv | Shows filtering details on stderr |
Passthrough / Fallback
If RTK doesn't recognize a command or subcommand, it executes the raw command unchanged and tracks the event. RTK never blocks command execution.
Custom Filters
Users can add custom TOML filters in:
~/.config/rtk/filters/ — Global filters<project>/.rtk/filters/ — Project-local filters
[filter]
command = "my-cmd"
strip_lines_matching = ["^Verbose:", "^Debug:"]
keep_lines_matching = ["^error", "^warning"]
max_lines = 50
Common Mistakes
| Mistake | Fix |
|---|
Not using RTK for git status | One of the highest-savings commands (~80%) |
| Using RTK for dev servers | Dev servers are interactive — use native shell |
Forgetting rtk test <cmd> wrapper | Wraps any test runner for failures-only output |
Not checking rtk discover | Shows which commands you missed |
Using raw cat instead of rtk read | rtk read is always shorter |
