Anthropic Guide: 5 Ways to Stop Burning Tokens in Claude Code
Arindam_1729 · x · 2026-08-27
Anthropic released a guide explaining how Claude Code consumes tokens (e.g., context like logs from turn 2 persists through turn 40) and offers optimization strategies:
- Run /clear between tasks: Prevents irrelevant prior context from being resent.
- Set model and effort level upfront: Changing mid-conversation busts the prompt cache, increasing costs.
- @-mention files: Attaches files directly, saving a Read call or search.
- Quiet flags or subagents: Prevents noisy command output from bloating the context window.
- Use /context and /compact: Check loaded contents to cut bloat; summarize before the prompt cache expires (1 hour) for cheaper processing.
Related event: Anthropic Shares Official Guide to Cut Claude Code Token Usage(2 posts)→
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