chop

chop

CLI output compressor for Claude Code.

Claude Code wastes 50-90% of its context window on verbose CLI output — build logs, test results, container listings, git diffs. chop compresses that output before Claude sees it, saving tokens and keeping conversations focused.

The name comes from chop chop: the sound of something eating through all that verbosity before it ever reaches the context window.

Before & After

# Without chop (247 tokens)
$ git status
On branch main
Your branch is up to date with 'origin/main'.

Changes not staged for commit:
  (use "git add <file>..." to update what will be committed)
  (use "git restore <file>..." to discard changes in working directory)
        modified:   src/app.ts
        modified:   src/auth/login.ts
        modified:   config.json

Untracked files:
  (use "git add <file>..." to include in what will be committed)
        src/utils/helpers.ts

no changes added to commit (use "git add" and/or "git commit")

# With chop (12 tokens — 95% savings)
$ chop git status
modified(3): src/app.ts, src/auth/login.ts, config.json
untracked(1): src/utils/helpers.ts

# Without chop (850+ tokens)
$ docker ps
CONTAINER ID   IMAGE                  COMMAND                  CREATED        STATUS        PORTS                    NAMES
a1b2c3d4e5f6   nginx:1.25-alpine      "/docker-entrypoint.…"   2 hours ago    Up 2 hours    0.0.0.0:80->80/tcp       web
f6e5d4c3b2a1   postgres:16-alpine     "docker-entrypoint.s…"   2 hours ago    Up 2 hours    0.0.0.0:5432->5432/tcp   db
...

# With chop (compact table — 70% savings)
$ chop docker ps
web        nginx:1.25-alpine     Up 2h    :80->80
db         postgres:16-alpine    Up 2h    :5432->5432

Install

macOS / Linux:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/AgusRdz/chop/main/install.sh | sh

Specific version or custom directory:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/AgusRdz/chop/main/install.sh | CHOP_VERSION=v1.0.0 sh
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/AgusRdz/chop/main/install.sh | CHOP_INSTALL_DIR=/usr/local/bin sh

The installer places the binary in ~/.local/bin by default. If it is not in your PATH, it is added automatically to ~/.zshrc or ~/.bashrc. Reload your shell after installing:

source ~/.zshrc  # or ~/.bashrc

Windows (PowerShell):

irm https://raw.githubusercontent.com/AgusRdz/chop/main/install.ps1 | iex

Specific version or custom directory:

$env:CHOP_VERSION="v1.0.0"; irm https://raw.githubusercontent.com/AgusRdz/chop/main/install.ps1 | iex
$env:CHOP_INSTALL_DIR="C:\tools\chop"; irm https://raw.githubusercontent.com/AgusRdz/chop/main/install.ps1 | iex

The installer places the binary in %LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\chop by default and adds it to your user PATH automatically. Restart your terminal after installing.

With Go:

go install github.com/AgusRdz/chop@latest

Build from source (requires Docker):

git clone https://github.com/AgusRdz/chop.git
cd chop
make install    # builds + copies to ~/.local/bin/

Update to latest:

chop update

After updating, chop automatically re-execs the new binary and runs --post-update-check to verify the install location. If chop is installed in the legacy ~/bin directory, it will suggest running the migration script. You can also run this check manually at any time:

chop --post-update-check

Quick Start

Use directly

chop git status          # compressed git status
chop docker ps           # compact container list
chop npm test            # just failures and summary
chop kubectl get pods    # essential columns only
chop terraform plan      # resource changes, no attribute noise
chop curl https://api.io # JSON compressed to structure + types
chop anything            # auto-detects and compresses any output

Agent Integration

Claude Code (automatic, zero-config)

Register a PreToolUse hook that automatically wraps every Bash command:

chop init --global       # install hook
chop init --uninstall    # remove hook
chop init --status       # check if installed

After this, every command Claude Code runs gets compressed transparently. You'll see chop git status in the tool calls — that's the hook working.

Add this to your CLAUDE.md for best results:

## Chop (Token Optimizer)

`chop` is installed globally. It compresses CLI output to reduce token consumption.

When running CLI commands via Bash, prefix with `chop` for read-only commands:
- `chop git status`, `chop git log -10`, `chop git diff`
- `chop docker ps`, `chop npm test`, `chop dotnet build`
- `chop curl <url>` (auto-compresses JSON responses)

Do NOT use chop for: interactive commands, pipes, redirects, or write commands
(git commit, git push, npm init, docker run).

Supported Commands (52+)

Any command not listed above still gets compressed via auto-detection (JSON, CSV, tables, log lines).

Token Tracking

Less tokens wasted on noise, more tokens spent on productive work. Every command is tracked in a local SQLite database:

chop gain              # overall stats
chop gain --history    # last 20 commands with per-command savings
chop gain --summary    # per-command breakdown

$ chop gain
chop - token savings report

  today: 42 commands, 12,847 tokens saved
  week:  187 commands, 52,340 tokens saved
  month: 318 commands, 89,234 tokens saved
  year:  1,203 commands, 456,789 tokens saved
  total: 1,203 commands, 456,789 tokens saved (73.2% avg)

Diagnostics

chop doctor            # check and fix common issues
chop hook-audit        # show last 20 hook rewrite log entries
chop hook-audit --clear
chop config            # show global config file path and contents
chop local             # show local project config

Migrating from ~/bin

Versions before v0.14.4 (pre v1.0.0) installed the binary to ~/bin. Run the migration script to move it to the standard location and update your shell config automatically.

macOS / Linux:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/AgusRdz/chop/main/migrate.sh | sh

Then reload your shell:

source ~/.zshrc  # or ~/.bashrc

Or manually:

mkdir -p ~/.local/bin
mv ~/bin/chop ~/.local/bin/chop
# remove ~/bin from ~/.zshrc or ~/.bashrc, then add:
export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"

Windows (PowerShell):

irm https://raw.githubusercontent.com/AgusRdz/chop/main/migrate.ps1 | iex

Or manually:

New-Item -ItemType Directory -Force "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\Programs\chop"
Move-Item "$env:USERPROFILE\bin\chop.exe" "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\Programs\chop\chop.exe"
# then update your PATH in System Properties or via:
[Environment]::SetEnvironmentVariable("PATH", "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\Programs\chop;" + [Environment]::GetEnvironmentVariable("PATH","User"), "User")

Restart your terminal after migrating.

Uninstall & Reset

chop uninstall                # remove hook, data, config, and binary
chop uninstall --keep-data    # uninstall but preserve tracking history
chop reset                    # clear tracking data and audit log, keep installation

Configuration

Global config

~/.config/chop/config.yml:

# Skip filtering — return full uncompressed output
disabled:
  - curl                # disables all curl commands
  - "git diff"          # disables only git diff (git status still compressed)
  - "git show"          # disables only git show

Entries can be a base command (disables all subcommands) or "command subcommand" for granular control.

Local config (per-project)

Manage per-project overrides with chop local:

chop local                      # show current local config
chop local add "git diff"       # disable git diff in this project
chop local add "docker ps"      # add another entry
chop local remove "git diff"    # re-enable git diff
chop local clear                # remove local config entirely

The first chop local add creates a .chop.yml file and adds it to .gitignore automatically.

When a local .chop.yml exists, its disabled list replaces the global one entirely. This lets you narrow down or expand what's disabled per project.

You can also create .chop.yml manually:

# .chop.yml — overrides global config for this project
disabled:
  - "git diff"

Development

make test              # run tests
make build             # build (linux, in container)
make install           # build for your platform + install to ~/bin/
make cross             # build all platforms (linux/darwin/windows × amd64/arm64)
make release-patch     # tag + push next patch version
make release-minor     # tag + push next minor version

License

MIT