check-claude-md-size

name	Check Claude.md Size
description	This skill should be used when the user says "check claude.md size", "is my claude.md too big", "claude.md token cost", "how big is claude.md", or when triggered automatically on session start to warn about oversized claude.md files.
version	1.0.0

Check Claude.md Size

Measure and report claude.md file sizes. Warn when files exceed optimal token budget. Suggest optimization when needed.

Size Thresholds

Size	Status	Action
< 300 words	Optimal	No action needed
300-600 words	Acceptable	Monitor growth
600-1,000 words	Bloated	Run optimize-claudemd
> 1,000 words	Critical	Immediate optimization needed

Check Procedure

Scan All claude.md Files

# Global
wc -w ~/.claude/CLAUDE.md 2>/dev/null
wc -w ~/.claude/claude.md 2>/dev/null

# Project
wc -w ./CLAUDE.md 2>/dev/null
wc -w ./claude.md 2>/dev/null

Report Format

CLAUDE.MD SIZE CHECK
====================
Global (~/.claude/CLAUDE.md):   [N] words ≈ [N*1.3] tokens  [STATUS]
Project (./CLAUDE.md):          [N] words ≈ [N*1.3] tokens  [STATUS]

Combined constant cost: ~[N] tokens per response

[WARNING if any file is Bloated/Critical]
Run: /context_guard:optimize-claudemd to reduce size

Automatic Session-Start Check

This skill is called by the SessionStart hook. On session start:

1. Check all claude.md file sizes
2. If any file > 600 words: print warning
3. If any file > 1,000 words: print critical warning with optimization command

Warning format:

⚠ TOKEN SAVER: claude.md is [N] words ([STATUS])
  Run /context_guard:optimize-claudemd to reduce by ~[%]%

What Makes claude.md Grow

Common causes of bloat:

• Accumulated instructions over time without pruning
• Paste of full API docs or schemas
• Duplicate rules from different sessions
• Long prose explanations instead of bullet rules
• Examples that should be in references/ files

LTX Schema

Emit structured output as LTX rows when reporting file sizes.

@v1:file|words|tokens|level

Field	Description
file	Path to the claude.md file checked
words	Raw word count
tokens	Estimated tokens (words * 1.3, rounded)
level	ok, warn (600–999 words), critical (≥1000 words)

Example:

@v1:file|words|tokens|level
~/.claude/CLAUDE.md|850|1105|critical
./CLAUDE.md|320|416|ok

Additional Resources

• references/claudemd-templates.md — Lean templates by project type (shared with optimize-claudemd skill)