Dev measures real agent stack cost: 92,413 tokens before the first message
princejain756 · reddit · 2026-10-12
Reddit user princejain756 open-sourced ctxvitals, a tool that launches each stdio MCP server, sends a real initialize + tools/list, and prints byte-level schema costs per server — plus skills, rules, commands, and hooks across Claude Code, Cursor, Windsurf, Copilot, Codex, and Devin.
- His own machine: 92,413 tokens per turn, graded F.
- Issues found: the same MCP server installed under 3 names (3x schema cost), a plaintext API key in a config env, and an MCP entry pointing at a deleted binary.
Runs via npx ctxvitals (zero deps, Node 18+), also ships as a Claude skill for agent self-audits.
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