optimize-claude-md

optimize-claude-md is a command for Claude Code from juanmhidalgo/claude-plugins. It costs 38 tokens per session (833 once invoked), scanned A, original, MIT.

A command that improves an existing CLAUDE.md file, which gives Claude Code project-specific instructions.

In plain words
What is it for?
Use it to review, optimize, preview, and optionally apply improvements to an existing CLAUDE.md file.
Why use it?
It makes lengthy or poorly structured instructions clearer and more concise, while requiring confirmation before applying changes.

Command for Claude Code

Written for Claude Code: allowed-tools in frontmatter. Also seen: mentions CLAUDE.md; positional $N argument; mentions Claude Code.

Part of the claude-md-toolkit plugin — 1 skill, 3 commands shipped together

Good fit Use it to review, optimize, preview, and optionally apply improvements to an existing CLAUDE.md file.

Compare 6 commands from other repositories ↓
Install with agentmods
npx agentmods add commands/juanmhidalgo/claude-plugins/optimize-claude-md
Install

Getting it into your agent

One page per mod, every tool's command on it. A separate URL per tool would split the same page into five that compete with each other.

Clone the repo
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/juanmhidalgo/claude-plugins

Made for: Claude Code.

Or install claude-md-toolkit, the plugin that ships this one along with the rest of its 1 skill, 3 commands.

Wrote this? Show the measurements

A badge with what this costs and how it scanned, read live from this page, so it follows the numbers instead of freezing them. Markdown for a README, HTML for a documentation site or a project page.

agentmods badge for optimize-claude-md

README.md
[![agentmods](https://agentmods.dev/badge/commands/juanmhidalgo/claude-plugins/optimize-claude-md.svg)](https://agentmods.dev/commands/juanmhidalgo/claude-plugins/optimize-claude-md)
Your own site
<a href="https://agentmods.dev/commands/juanmhidalgo/claude-plugins/optimize-claude-md"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/commands/juanmhidalgo/claude-plugins/optimize-claude-md.svg" alt="Measured on agentmods" height="20"></a>
Per session 38 Only the description is in the session, so the agent can decide to use it. The body loads when it is invoked.
When invoked 833 The whole file, excluding the scripts and references it only reads on demand.
Security scan A 0 findings. A grade says what 26 rules found in the file — not that it is safe.
Origin original No closer match found in the catalogue.
Token cost

What it costs to keep this loaded

Counted locally with the o200k_base tokenizer, which is exact for GPT models; Claude uses its own tokenizer and its counts differ. Treat this as one consistent yardstick across the catalogue rather than a bill. Prices are per million input tokens.

ModelPer sessionOnce invoked
Fable 5.1 $0.00038 $0.00833
Opus 5 $0.00019 $0.00417
Sonnet 5 $0.00008 $0.00167
Haiku 4.5 $0.00004 $0.00083

Measured 7d ago against content hash d2b4cc28e24c, method: parsed. Prices are Anthropic first-party input rates as of 2026-09-07, from the pricing page.

Security

Grade A, and why

optimize-claude-md scanned grade A with 0 findings against 26 rules in 11 categories — prompt injection, anti-refusal, data exfiltration, privilege escalation, supply chain, agent snooping, system-prompt leakage, SSRF and excessive agency — measured 7d ago.

A static scan of the body, not an audit. Every finding is printed with the line that produced it so you can judge whether it matters here. A mod is markdown that instructs an agent; that is exactly why what it instructs is worth reading.

Nothing flagged

None of the 26 patterns this scan looks for appear in this file: no shell pipes, no recursive deletes, no credential paths, no hidden text, no instruction-override or anti-refusal phrasing, no agent-config snooping. That is not a guarantee, it is the absence of the things that are checkable.

claude-md-toolkit/commands/optimize-claude-md.md · 84 lines

How it starts

The opening of the file, as written. The whole thing — 84 lines — stays where its author put it; the contents beside it link to each section on GitHub.

Optimize CLAUDE.md

Apply Anthropic's best practices to optimize CLAUDE.md structure, conciseness, and token efficiency.

Parse arguments

Path: $1, or auto-detect (./CLAUDE.md./.claude/CLAUDE.md).

Level: extract --level=X from $ARGUMENTS. Default: moderate. Valid values: conservative, moderate, aggressive.

For each level's full scope (what is/isn't changed), see @optimize-claude-md.references/levels-and-strategies.md.

Workflow

  1. Backupcp [original] [original].backup-[timestamp]. Show the backup path. Blocking.
  2. Transform — apply optimizations at the chosen level. Track before/after metrics (lines, tokens).
  3. Preview — show metrics comparison, key changes list, 2–3 side-by-side examples, backup location.
  4. Confirm — ask the user: apply / cancel / save-as-new. Do NOT proceed without explicit confirmation. Blocking.
  5. Apply — write optimized content (or to [original].optimized.md if save-as-new), or delete backup if cancelled.
  6. Post-optimization message — print metrics, next steps, backup-restore command.

For optimization-strategy details (XML structure target, conciseness moves, content enhancements, full success message, error handling), see @optimize-claude-md.references/levels-and-strategies.md.

Safety checks

Content preservation (blocking): before writing, ensure (1) all original info preserved, (2) no loss of project context, (3) no removal of critical rules, (4) XML tags properly closed, (5) token count is LOWER than original.

Sensitive data (blocking): if credentials, API keys, or connection strings are found — FLAG IMMEDIATELY, do NOT include in the optimized version, inform the user.

Already optimized: if analysis score > 85, inform the user and ask if they want to proceed anyway.

<critical_rules> NEVER write to the original file without creating a backup first. No exceptions.

Read the full file on GitHub · 84 lines

Changes

What this file has done since we first saw it

Hashed on every crawl. A supply-chain change to an agent config is a question of when, not whether, so the history is kept rather than the latest state alone.

  1. 7d ago First seen · 84 lines · 38 tokens per session scan A d2b4cc28e24c

Subscribe to this mod's changes

optimize-claude-md is a command published in the GitHub repository juanmhidalgo/claude-plugins (8 stars, last pushed 12d ago), licensed MIT. It adds 38 tokens to every session and 833 once invoked, about $0.0002 per session on Opus 5. A static security scan graded it A with 0 findings. No closer match exists in the catalogue, so it is treated as the original; first seen 2026-08-31.