Adrien Eppling
a1673f7428
RTK was documented as delivering "60-90% token savings", which reads as a cost reduction. What RTK actually reduces is bash output bytes. Those are one contributor to input tokens, which are themselves only part of a bill that also counts output tokens, so the reduction dilutes at every step. - add docs/guide/resources/savings-explained.md as the canonical explainer: the savings chain, both estimators, and what RTK does not reduce - rescope the headline claim across README (7 languages), the guide, hook rules, agent definitions and module READMEs - relabel per-command tables as bash output reduction, keeping every figure - document that reported tokens are estimates: rtk gain uses bytes/4 (src/core/tracking.rs), filter tests use split_whitespace().count(). Neither is a real tokenizer, so ratios hold but absolute counts do not Remove figures that had no source: the $3/Mtok constant and its $36 example, the +/-10% tokenization accuracy claim, the 99.5% hook-install figure, the invented session tables in README and INSTALL, and the 30-50% parser range. CHANGELOG is untouched. Shipped release notes stay as a historical record.
2.7 KiB
title, description, sidebar
| title | description | sidebar | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Installation | Install RTK via curl, Homebrew, Cargo, or from source, and verify the correct version |
|
Installation
Name collision warning
Two unrelated projects share the name rtk. Make sure you install the right one:
- Rust Token Killer (
rtk-ai/rtk) — this project, a token-saving CLI proxy - Rust Type Kit (
reachingforthejack/rtk) — a different tool for generating Rust types
The easiest way to verify you have the correct one: run rtk gain. It should display the savings dashboard. If it returns "command not found", you either have the wrong package or RTK is not installed.
Check before installing
rtk --version # should print: rtk x.y.z
rtk gain # should show the savings dashboard
If both commands work, RTK is already installed. Skip to Project initialization.
Quick install (Linux and macOS)
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/rtk-ai/rtk/master/install.sh | sh
Homebrew (macOS and Linux)
brew install rtk-ai/tap/rtk
Cargo
:::caution[Name collision risk]
cargo install rtk may install Rust Type Kit instead of Rust Token Killer — two unrelated projects share the same crate name. Use the explicit Git URL to guarantee the correct package:
:::
cargo install --git https://github.com/rtk-ai/rtk --branch master rtk
Pre-built binaries (Windows, Linux, macOS)
Download from GitHub releases:
- macOS:
rtk-x86_64-apple-darwin.tar.gz/rtk-aarch64-apple-darwin.tar.gz - Linux:
rtk-x86_64-unknown-linux-musl.tar.gz/rtk-aarch64-unknown-linux-gnu.tar.gz - Windows:
rtk-x86_64-pc-windows-msvc.zip
Windows users: Extract the zip and place rtk.exe in a directory on your PATH. Run RTK from Command Prompt, PowerShell, or Windows Terminal — do not double-click the .exe (it prints usage and exits immediately). For full hook support, use WSL instead.
Verify installation
rtk --version # rtk x.y.z
rtk gain # savings dashboard
If rtk gain fails but rtk --version succeeds, you installed Rust Type Kit by mistake. Uninstall it first:
cargo uninstall rtk
Then reinstall using one of the methods above.
Project initialization
Run once per project to enable the Claude Code hook:
rtk init
For a global install that patches settings.json automatically:
rtk init --global
Uninstall
rtk init -g --uninstall # remove hook, RTK.md, and settings.json entry
cargo uninstall rtk # remove binary (if installed via Cargo)
brew uninstall rtk # remove binary (if installed via Homebrew)