rtk discover Command - RTK (Rust Token Killer)

Overview

The rtk discover command scans your Claude Code session history (stored as JSONL files) to find commands where RTK would have saved tokens but wasn’t used. It helps you:

Measure what you’re missing — see exactly how many tokens you could save
Identify habits — find which commands you keep running without rtk
Spot new opportunities — see unhandled commands that could become rtk features

rtk discover is read-only and never modifies your Claude Code session files. It only analyzes JSONL logs to identify potential savings.

Quick Start

# Scan current project, last 30 days
rtk discover

# Scan all Claude Code projects
rtk discover --all

# Last 7 days across all projects
rtk discover --all --since 7

# Filter by project name (substring match)
rtk discover -p myproject

# Machine-readable output
rtk discover --format json

Command Options

--all

flag

Scan all Claude Code projects instead of just the current working directory

--since

integer

default:"30"

Number of days to look back in session history (default: 30 days)

-p, --project

string

Filter sessions by project name (substring match on directory name)

--format

string

default:"text"

Output format: text (human-readable) or json (machine-readable)

-v, --verbose

flag

Show verbose output including session file paths and parse errors

How It Works

Session Discovery

Project Directory Resolution
- Default: Current working directory → ~/.claude/projects/-path-to-current-dir/
- --all: All directories in ~/.claude/projects/
- -p <name>: Substring match on project directory names
JSONL File Scanning
- Recursively walks project directories (includes subagents/ subdirectories)
- Filters by modification time (last N days via --since)
- Parses JSONL session logs for Bash tool use events
Command Classification
- Extracts Bash commands from tool_use blocks
- Matches against RTK’s internal command registry
- Estimates token savings based on tool_result output lengths

Classification Categories

Supported
Unsupported
Ignored

Commands RTK already handles with dedicated filters:

Git: git status, git diff, git log, etc.
Cargo: cargo test, cargo build, cargo clippy
JavaScript: tsc, eslint, prettier, vitest, playwright
Files: cat, grep, rg, ls, find
Infra: docker ps, kubectl get

These represent missed savings — you ran the raw command instead of rtk <cmd>.

Commands RTK doesn’t handle yet:

terraform plan
ansible-playbook
make build
Custom scripts and tools

These represent feature requests — open an issue if you want RTK support.

Commands excluded from analysis:

Shell builtins: cd, echo, export, mkdir
Already using RTK: rtk git status
Trivial commands: pwd, true, false
Heredocs and complex shell constructs

Output Examples

Text Format (Default)

rtk discover

RTK Discover -- Savings Opportunities
====================================================
Scanned: 142 sessions (last 30 days), 1786 Bash commands
Already using RTK: 108 commands (6%)

MISSED SAVINGS -- Commands RTK already handles
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Command              Count    RTK Equivalent        Status         Est. Savings
git log                434    rtk git               existing       ~55.9K tokens
cargo test             203    rtk cargo             existing       ~49.9K tokens
ls -la                 107    rtk ls                existing       ~11.8K tokens
gh pr                   80    rtk gh                existing       ~10.4K tokens
cargo fmt               45    rtk cargo             passthrough     ~6.8K tokens
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total: 986 commands -> ~143.9K tokens saveable

TOP UNHANDLED COMMANDS -- open an issue?
----------------------------------------------------
Command              Count    Example
git checkout            84    git checkout feature/my-branch
cargo run               32    cargo run -- gain --help
terraform plan          18    terraform plan -var-file=prod.tfvars
make build              12    make build
----------------------------------------------------
-> github.com/rtk-ai/rtk/issues

~estimated from tool_result output sizes

Sections explained:

Header: Sessions scanned, total Bash commands found, RTK usage rate
Missed Savings: Commands RTK handles but you didn’t use (sorted by estimated savings)
Top Unhandled: Commands RTK doesn’t support yet (sorted by frequency)

Status Column

Status	Meaning
`existing`	Dedicated RTK handler with filtering (e.g., `git status` → `git.rs:run_status()`)
`passthrough`	Works via external subcommand, no filtering (e.g., `cargo fmt` → `Other` variant)
`not-supported`	RTK doesn’t handle this command at all

JSON Format

rtk discover --format json

{
  "sessions_scanned": 142,
  "total_commands": 1786,
  "already_rtk": 108,
  "since_days": 30,
  "supported": [
    {
      "command": "git log",
      "count": 434,
      "rtk_equivalent": "rtk git",
      "category": "Git",
      "estimated_savings_tokens": 55900,
      "estimated_savings_pct": 70.0,
      "rtk_status": "existing"
    },
    {
      "command": "cargo test",
      "count": 203,
      "rtk_equivalent": "rtk cargo",
      "category": "Cargo",
      "estimated_savings_tokens": 49900,
      "estimated_savings_pct": 90.0,
      "rtk_status": "existing"
    }
  ],
  "unsupported": [
    {
      "base_command": "git checkout",
      "count": 84,
      "example": "git checkout feature/my-branch"
    },
    {
      "base_command": "cargo run",
      "count": 32,
      "example": "cargo run -- gain --help"
    }
  ],
  "parse_errors": 0
}

Token Estimation

How Savings Are Calculated

# For each command:
output_tokens = tool_result.content.len() / 4  # Real data from JSONL
estimated_savings = output_tokens * (savings_pct / 100)

# Fallback when tool_result missing:
output_tokens = category_avg_tokens(category, subcmd)

Category averages (used when real output length unavailable):

Category	Subcmd	Avg Tokens
Git	`log`, `diff`, `show`	200
Git	`status`, `add`, etc.	40
Cargo	`test`	500
Cargo	`build`, `clippy`	150
Tests	All	800
Files	All	100
Build	All	300

Savings Percentages by Command

Command	Savings %	Source
`git diff`	80%	Subcommand override
`cargo test`	90%	Subcommand override
`vitest run`	99%	Rule default
`eslint`	84%	Rule default
`tsc`	83%	Rule default
`grep`	75%	Rule default
`ls`	65%	Rule default

Use Cases

Weekly Habit Check

# Check last week for missed opportunities
rtk discover --since 7

# If you see high counts for common commands:
# → Install the RTK hook for automatic rewriting
rtk init -g

Project-Specific Analysis

# Analyze a specific project by name
rtk discover -p myproject --since 90

# Compare two projects:
rtk discover -p project-a --format json > a.json
rtk discover -p project-b --format json > b.json
jq -s '{a: .[0].supported | length, b: .[1].supported | length}' a.json b.json

Feature Request Prioritization

# Export unsupported commands to CSV
rtk discover --format json | jq -r '
  .unsupported[] |
  [.base_command, .count, .example] |
  @csv
' > unsupported.csv

# Open in Excel, sort by count descending
# → Top commands are prime candidates for new RTK features

Team Adoption Metrics

# Measure RTK adoption rate across team
rtk discover --all --format json | jq '
  {
    total: .total_commands,
    rtk_usage: .already_rtk,
    adoption_pct: (.already_rtk / .total_commands * 100 | round)
  }
'

Advanced Usage

Filter by Project Substring

# Match any project containing "aristote"
rtk discover -p aristote

# Project directory names are encoded as:
# /Users/foo/Sites/aristote → -Users-foo-Sites-aristote
# Substring match works on the encoded name

Verbose Output

rtk discover -v

Scanning 142 session files...
  /Users/foo/.claude/projects/-Users-foo-Sites-rtk/1706883200_abc123.jsonl
  /Users/foo/.claude/projects/-Users-foo-Sites-rtk/1706883300_def456.jsonl
  ...

Warning: skipping /path/to/malformed.jsonl: unexpected EOF

RTK Discover -- Savings Opportunities
...

Parse errors skipped: 1

Combine with `rtk gain`

# 1. Check what you're missing
rtk discover

# 2. Install hook to capture those savings automatically
rtk init -g

# 3. Wait a week, then verify gains
rtk gain --weekly

Troubleshooting

No sessions found

# Check if Claude Code projects directory exists
ls ~/.claude/projects/

# Verify current directory is a Claude Code project
pwd
ls ~/.claude/projects/ | grep "$(pwd | sed 's/\//-/g')"

# Try scanning all projects
rtk discover --all

Low command counts

# Increase time window
rtk discover --since 90

# Check session modification times
find ~/.claude/projects/ -name "*.jsonl" -mtime -30 -ls

Parse errors

# Run with verbose to see which files failed
rtk discover -v

# Manually inspect failed JSONL file
head -100 /path/to/failed.jsonl

# Validate JSON format
jq . < /path/to/failed.jsonl > /dev/null

Zero savings shown

# Check if you're already using RTK everywhere
rtk discover | grep "Already using RTK"

# If adoption is 100%:
# → Congratulations! No missed savings.
# → Use `rtk gain` to see actual savings over time.

Privacy & Security

rtk discover reads Claude Code session files which may contain:

Command history (Bash tool invocations)
Command output (tool_result content)
Project paths (encoded in directory names)

Data handling:

All analysis happens locally (no network requests)
No session data is stored or logged
Output contains only aggregated statistics (not raw session content)

Command Registry

rtk discover uses the same command classification engine as the RTK hook. The registry includes:

git status, log, diff, show, add, commit, push, pull, branch, fetch, stash, worktree
Savings: 59-80% depending on subcommand

cargo build, test, clippy, check, fmt
Savings: 80-90% (fmt is passthrough)

tsc, eslint, biome, prettier, vitest, jest, playwright, prisma, next
Package manager prefixes: pnpm, npx, npm
Savings: 70-99%

mypy, ruff, pytest, pip
Savings: 80-90%

go test, build, vet, golangci-lint
Savings: 75-90%

cat, head, tail, grep, rg, ls, find
Savings: 60-75%

docker ps, images, logs
kubectl get, logs
Savings: 85%

curl, wget
Savings: 65-70%

gh pr, issue, run, repo, api
Savings: 80-87%

pnpm list, outdated, install
npm run, exec
Savings: 70-80%

Best Practices

Run Weekly: rtk discover --since 7 to catch habit changes
Install Hook: If you see high missed savings, install the RTK hook with rtk init -g
Track Adoption: Use --format json to track adoption rate over time
Feature Requests: Export unsupported commands and open GitHub issues for top candidates
Project-Specific: Use -p to analyze individual projects before rolling out RTK team-wide

rtk gain Command

View actual token savings over time with temporal breakdowns

RTK Hook

Automatic command rewriting for 100% RTK adoption

Get Started

Core Concepts

Commands

Integration

Analytics

Advanced

Resources

​Overview

​Quick Start

​Command Options

​How It Works

​Session Discovery

​Classification Categories

​Output Examples

​Text Format (Default)

​Status Column

​JSON Format

​Token Estimation

​How Savings Are Calculated

​Savings Percentages by Command

​Use Cases

​Weekly Habit Check

​Project-Specific Analysis

​Feature Request Prioritization

​Team Adoption Metrics

​Advanced Usage

​Filter by Project Substring

​Verbose Output

​Combine with rtk gain

​Troubleshooting

​No sessions found

​Low command counts

​Parse errors

​Zero savings shown

​Privacy & Security

​Command Registry

​Best Practices

​See Also

rtk gain Command

RTK Hook

Overview

Quick Start

Command Options

How It Works

Session Discovery

Classification Categories

Output Examples

Text Format (Default)

Status Column

JSON Format

Token Estimation

How Savings Are Calculated

Savings Percentages by Command

Use Cases

Weekly Habit Check

Project-Specific Analysis

Feature Request Prioritization

Team Adoption Metrics

Advanced Usage

Filter by Project Substring

Verbose Output

Combine with `rtk gain`

Troubleshooting

No sessions found

Low command counts

Parse errors

Zero savings shown

Privacy & Security

Command Registry

Best Practices

See Also