TL: a token-efficient language that cuts LLM code tokens by 30-60%
Ok-Condition7148 · reddit · 2026-10-03
After repeatedly running out of tokens on his Claude Code subscription, a developer built TL, a token-efficient language for LLMs that strips or shortens human-oriented syntax (braces, closing quotes, whitespace, long variable names) while keeping enough structure for models to reliably generate and edit code.
- Benchmarked against several open-source projects: roughly 30-60% fewer tokens depending on the codebase
- Ships a VS Code extension that converts TL back into normal readable code for human review and editing — the LLM works in the compact form, you read the expanded one
- Currently NodeJS-only; the author plans to expand to other languages and possibly a language-agnostic intermediate representation
Open-sourced at github.com/krdanny/tl-lang, feedback welcome.
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