Practical LLM cost optimization for builders who are tired of watching their API bill climb.https://tokenmiser.uk/https://tokenmiser.uk/blog/claude-code-agent-optimization/https://tokenmiser.uk/blog/claude-code-agent-optimization/How Claude caches work at the byte level, how to structure agents and rules for maximum efficiency, and practical techniques that saved us 60-87% on agent token costs across 9 production repos.Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://tokenmiser.uk/blog/claude-code-skills-vs-rules-subagent-cheatsheet/https://tokenmiser.uk/blog/claude-code-skills-vs-rules-subagent-cheatsheet/Where you put shared content in Claude Code determines whether subagents see it at all — and which cache tier it lands in. Here is the decision tree nobody wrote down.Tue, 14 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://tokenmiser.uk/blog/lint-your-claude-md/https://tokenmiser.uk/blog/lint-your-claude-md/Your CLAUDE.md is probably billing you for files that no longer exist. Here is how to audit it in 10 minutes and save hundreds of thousands of tokens per month.Tue, 14 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://tokenmiser.uk/blog/local-models-as-compression-layer/https://tokenmiser.uk/blog/local-models-as-compression-layer/Stop paying Claude $5/MTok to read a 528 KB GitHub issue. Route big content through a cheap local model first, hand Claude the summary, save 95%+ on tokens.Tue, 14 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://tokenmiser.uk/blog/mcp-server-tool-prefix-cache-trap/https://tokenmiser.uk/blog/mcp-server-tool-prefix-cache-trap/Every subagent spawn ships 7,000+ tokens of MCP tool definitions you never use. One frontmatter line fixes it — and unlocks cross-agent cache sharing.Tue, 14 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://tokenmiser.uk/blog/prompt-caching-basics/https://tokenmiser.uk/blog/prompt-caching-basics/Every API call re-sends your entire prompt by default. Prompt caching fixes that at 10% of normal input cost. Here is how it works, what breaks it, and how to verify it.Tue, 14 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://tokenmiser.uk/blog/track-claude-code-spend-otel-jaeger/https://tokenmiser.uk/blog/track-claude-code-spend-otel-jaeger/Claude Code ships OTel support. Most tooling silently returns zero tokens. Here is the full setup, the classifier bug that causes it, and the three queries worth your time.Tue, 14 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT