usage-audit

name	usage-audit
description	Audit a Claude Code setup for token waste and context bloat. Checks MCP servers, CLAUDE.md, skills, and settings against bloat filters. Triggers on: "audit my context", "usage audit", "token audit", "context bloat". NOT for codebase audits.
metadata	{"version":"1.0.0","category":"review","tags":["context","tokens","audit","claude-code","bloat"],"difficulty":"intermediate"}

Usage Audit

Bloated context costs twice: you burn usage limits faster and output quality drops because models attend most to the start and end of context. This skill finds the waste and tells you what to cut.

Credit: adapted from the context-audit skill in the Claude Code Context Cleanup Guide (2026). Armory port adds package-aware checks and treats the scoring rubric as an overridable reference, not a verdict.

Step 1: Get /context Data

Check the conversation for recent /context output. If the user has not run it in this session, ask:

"Run /context in this terminal and paste the output. I can't run slash commands myself — once I can see the breakdown I'll audit everything it flags."

STOP HERE. Do not proceed to Step 2 until real /context data is available. The breakdown determines what to audit and in what order. Without it, the audit is guessing. Output the message above and wait.

Step 2: Audit What's Bloated

Work the categories from largest to smallest in the /context output. Run independent checks in parallel.

MCP Servers

Each connected server loads full tool definitions into context every turn (~15,000-20,000 tokens each), whether you invoke a tool or not. Under Opus 4.7 this figure can run 1.0–1.35× higher for the same schemas due to a tokenizer update — prefer measured values from /context over these static estimates.

• Count configured servers in settings.json and ~/.claude/settings.json.
• Report total MCP overhead from /context.
• Flag any server with a CLI equivalent (Playwright, GitHub, Google Workspace, Notion, Slack, etc.) — the CLI costs zero tokens when idle.
• Cross-reference installed armory packages: if mcp-to-skill is installed, recommend it explicitly for the heaviest server.

CLAUDE.md Files

Read every CLAUDE.md in scope (project root, .claude/, ~/.claude/). For each file: count lines, then test every rule against the five filters.

Filter	Flag when...
Default	Claude already does this without being told ("write clean code", "handle errors")
Contradiction	Conflicts with another rule in the same or a different file
Redundancy	Repeats something already covered elsewhere
Bandaid	Added to fix one specific bad output, not improve outputs generally
Vague	Interpreted differently every time ("be natural", "use good tone")

If a CLAUDE.md exceeds 200 lines, check for progressive-disclosure opportunities: rules that only apply to specific tasks (API conventions, deploy steps, testing) should move to reference files with one-line pointers from the core file. A lean CLAUDE.md under 200 lines with universal context is fine as a single file — do not split for the sake of splitting.

Rules Packages (armory-specific)

Armory rules/ packages load into every session like CLAUDE.md does — they are the real silent base tax. Higher priority than skill bloat.

• Enumerate installed rules packages via ~/.claude/settings.json or the armory installer registry if present.
• For each rules package, read its RULE.md body, count lines, apply the same five filters.
• Flag any rules package over 300 lines. These hit every turn.

Installed Skills

Scan ~/.claude/skills/*/SKILL.md and any project-local skills. For each:

• Measure SKILL.md body lines only — do NOT count files under references/, scripts/, or evals/. Those load on demand, not on trigger. Penalizing total package LOC misattributes cost.
• Flag SKILL.md body > 200 lines (warn) or > 500 lines (critical).
• Run the five filters on skill instructions: restated goals, hedging ("you may want to"), synonymous instructions ("be concise" + "keep it short" + "don't be verbose").
• Frontmatter description audit: count words in each skill's description field. Flag any over 60 words. Skill descriptions load into the router on every session and should be trigger-focused, not prose.

Settings

Check settings.json for these keys:

Setting	Flag if	Recommended
autocompact_percentage_override	Missing or > 80	75
env.BASH_MAX_OUTPUT_LENGTH	At default (30-50K)	150000

File Permissions

Check permissions.deny in settings.json. If missing, inspect the project and flag bloat directories that should be denied:

If this exists...	Should deny...
package.json	node_modules, dist, build, .next, coverage
Cargo.toml	target
go.mod	vendor
pyproject.toml / requirements.txt	__pycache__, .venv, *.egg-info

Step 3: Score and Report

The rubric below is a reference default, not gospel. A "reference" skill that wraps a large CLI surface (e.g., github, agent-builder) may legitimately exceed line thresholds — judge the body, not the file count. Users can override any deduction in their project CLAUDE.md.

Score starts at 100. Deduct per issue:

Issue	Points
CLAUDE.md > 200 lines	-10
CLAUDE.md > 500 lines	-20
Rules package > 300 lines (body)	-10 each
Per 5 rules flagged by filters	-5
Contradictions between files	-10
Missing autocompact_percentage_override	-10
Missing BASH_MAX_OUTPUT_LENGTH override	-5
Skill body > 200 lines	-5 each
Skill body > 500 lines	-10 each
Skill description > 60 words	-2 each
Per connected MCP server with CLI equivalent	-5 each
No permissions.deny and bloat dirs exist	-10

Floor at 0. Output this format:

# Usage Audit

Score: {N}/100 [{CLEAN|NEEDS WORK|BLOATED|CRITICAL}]

## Context Breakdown (from /context)
{Paste the key numbers}

## Issues Found

### [{CRITICAL|WARNING|INFO}] {Category}
{What's wrong}
Fix: {One-line actionable fix}

### Rules to Cut
{Each flagged rule: quoted text, which filter, one-line reason}

### Conflicts
{Contradictions between files, with paths}

## Top 3 Fixes
1. {Highest-impact fix}
2. {Second}
3. {Third}

Score labels: 90-100 CLEAN, 70-89 NEEDS WORK, 50-69 BLOATED, 0-49 CRITICAL. Severity: CRITICAL > 10pts, WARNING 5-10pts, INFO < 5pts.

Step 4: Offer to Fix

After the report, offer targeted fixes:

"Want me to apply any of these? I can:

• Add missing settings.json keys (autocompact_percentage_override, BASH_MAX_OUTPUT_LENGTH)
• Add permissions.deny rules for detected bloat directories
• Show a cleaned-up CLAUDE.md diff with flagged rules removed
• Compress fat skill frontmatter descriptions
• Recommend specific MCP servers to disconnect this session"

Auto-apply the settings and permissions changes (safe, reversible). Show a diff and wait for confirmation before modifying any instruction file (CLAUDE.md, RULE.md, SKILL.md) — instruction edits are load-bearing and users need final say.