Token Budget Check

Token Budget Check

Analyze markdown files to ensure they comply with token budget guidelines.

Purpose

Knowledge Copilot files have token budgets to optimize AI ingestion. This skill checks files against those budgets and suggests optimizations when over budget.

Token Budgets by Document Type

| Document Type | Max Tokens | Max Words | |---------------|------------|-----------| | Skill (SKILL.md) | 2,000 | 1,400 | | Product overview | 800 | 560 | | Product architecture | 1,200 | 840 | | Product API summary | 1,000 | 700 | | Product integration | 800 | 560 | | Operational guide | 4,000 | 2,800 | | Agent profile | 2,000 | 1,400 | | Index/navigation | 400 | 280 |

Procedure

1. Identify Target Files

If a specific file is provided, check that file. Otherwise, scan the directory:

find . -name "*.md" -type f | head -20

2. Calculate Token Estimate

For each file, estimate tokens (words × 1.4):

file="path/to/file.md"
words=$(wc -w < "$file" | tr -d ' ')
tokens=$((words * 14 / 10))
echo "$file: ~$tokens tokens ($words words)"

3. Determine Document Type

Infer type from:

• Filename: SKILL.md → skill, 00-overview.md → overview
• Path: 02-products/ → product doc, 03-ai-enabling/02-profiles/ → agent profile
• Frontmatter: doc_type field if present

4. Compare Against Budget

| Status | Condition | Action | |--------|-----------|--------| | OK | Under budget | Report as compliant | | WARNING | 80-100% of budget | Suggest review | | OVER | Exceeds budget | Analyze and suggest cuts |

5. If Over Budget, Analyze Content

Identify optimization opportunities:

• Prose that could be tables (30-50% savings)
• Redundant explanations
• Examples that could be shortened
• Content that belongs in linked docs

Output Format

## Token Budget Report

### Summary
- Files checked: N
- Compliant: N
- Warnings: N
- Over budget: N

### Details

| File | Type | Tokens | Budget | Status |
|------|------|--------|--------|--------|
| path/to/file.md | skill | 1,850 | 2,000 | OK |
| path/to/doc.md | overview | 950 | 800 | OVER (+150) |

### Recommendations

#### path/to/doc.md (950 tokens, budget 800)
- Lines 45-60: Convert feature list to table (-80 tokens)
- Lines 72-85: Remove redundant introduction (-50 tokens)

Efficiency Patterns Reference

| Pattern | Token Savings | |---------|---------------| | Tables over prose | 30-50% | | Bullet points over paragraphs | 20-30% | | Omit articles in table cells | 5-10% | | Use abbreviations (env, config, auth) | 5-10% | | Remove redundant headers | 5-10% |

Source & license

This open-source skill is cataloged on AgentStack and links to its original source — we do not rehost the code.

• Author: Everyone-Needs-A-Copilot
• Source: Everyone-Needs-A-Copilot/claude-copilot
• License: MIT
• Homepage: https://ineedacopilot.com

Install and usage instructions live in the source repository linked above.