Claude Code Hidden Retry Wastes 64k Tokens
HighDefinist · reddit · 2026-07-19
The author analyzed the underlying logs of a Claude Code coding task for Fable 5 and discovered a highly wasteful hidden retry:
- The first request took about 25.8k input tokens and generated a full 64k output tokens consisting entirely of reasoning, with no text output, tool calls, or file changes, ultimately triggering maxtokens.
- Claude Code automatically retried the same task, but the previous 64k reasoning tokens weren't essentially inherited; the second attempt was almost like planning from scratch.
- The second attempt generated another 63,567 output tokens, only issuing the first file-writing tool call near the very end.
- The standard UI automatically hides/recovers from this failure, so the author wouldn't have known about the wasted 19 minutes and 64k output tokens without checking the logs.
- This complete task cumulatively used about 1.97M input tokens, 184.6k output tokens, and 49 minutes of active execution time, with about 35% of the output tokens coming from the first failed attempt.
The author concludes by asking how common this is and if others have experienced similar issues.
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