CLAUDE.md token estimates counted block-level <!-- --> HTML comments toward
always-loaded tokens, but CC strips them before injection (preserved only inside
code fences, per code.claude.com/docs/en/memory). Fix: new stripInjectedHtmlComments
+ effectiveMemoryBytes in active-config-reader; the CML cascade (walkClaudeMdCascade)
and token-hotspots now size CLAUDE.md from effective (stripped) bytes, while raw byte
figures stay honest. Block-level only — inline comments retained (conservative,
verified scope). Suite 1329/0 (+13). Frozen v5.0.0 snapshots untouched (no fixture
has <!--), no re-seed. Dogfood ~/.claude CLAUDE.md ~3386->3301 tok (~85 tok discount,
matches worklist prediction).
Pattern H ("Stale plugin-cache versions") recommended deleting stale
version dirs under ~/.claude/plugins/cache with no warning that a
currently-running session may still hold one of those versions for its
whole lifetime. "Stale" is judged against installed_plugins.json (what
NEW sessions load), so the recommendation could reproduce the exact
footgun that broke a live session during C4: deleting the dir pulls the
files out from under the running session, which then breaks and must
/exit + restart.
Extend the recommendation text with the live-session caveat. No new
finding ID/scanner, no token counts changed (recommendation string only)
-> --json/--raw stay byte-stable, frozen v5.0.0 + SC-5 + default-output
snapshots untouched. +1 test (1297).
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
By default Claude Code defers MCP tool schemas (names-only, ~120 tok; full
schemas on demand via tool search). CA-TOK-006 detects config-file signals that
force the FULL schemas into the always-loaded prefix every turn:
- settings.json env.ENABLE_TOOL_SEARCH="false" (high)
- "ToolSearch" in permissions.deny (high)
- configured model is a Haiku model (medium)
- per-server .mcp.json alwaysLoad:true (CC v2.1.121+) (high)
auto[:N] is threshold mode (info, not a trigger).
New engine lib/mcp-deferral.mjs: pure assessMcpDeferral({settings,mcpServers})
(unit-tested, no IO) + thin IO wrapper assessMcpDeferralForRepo shared by TOK and
GAP. Severity scales with aggregate forced-upfront tokens (medium-confidence
reasons cap at medium). feature-gap cliOverMcpLeverFinding fires only as a
companion to CA-TOK-006 (prefer gh/aws/gcloud over MCP for common ops).
Honest scoping (Verifiseringsplikt): triggers on config files ONLY — never
process.env shell vars. Vertex / custom ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL / runtime /model
switch are launch state (would flap snapshots machine-dependently), so they are
DISCLOSED in every finding, not triggered. Tool-level anthropic/alwaysLoad and
claude.ai connectors likewise disclosed. Mechanism verified 2026-06-23 against
code.claude.com/docs (context-window.md, mcp.md#configure-tool-search +
#exempt-a-server-from-deferral, costs.md); the prefix-cache invalidation claim
was NOT-CONFIRMED in docs and is not asserted.
alwaysLoad added to CA-MCP VALID_SERVER_FIELDS (no longer flagged as unknown).
active-config-reader surfaces per-server alwaysLoad. Byte-stable: CA-TOK-006
fires only on new conditions; frozen v5.0.0 + SC-5 snapshots untouched.
Tests 1215 -> 1239 (engine 16, integration 5, lever 2, mcp-field guard 1).
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
The B3a cache filter already exposes discovery.staleCacheVersions; surface them
as a finding so the user knows the superseded plugin versions are safe to delete.
Honesty (Verifiseringsplikt): the finding loads on ZERO turns, so it must NOT
read as a per-turn token cost. TOK normally humanizes to "Wasted tokens"; a new
per-finding category override ('plugin-cache-hygiene' -> "Dead config") plus a
dedicated humanizer translation ("Old plugin versions are sitting on disk (safe
to delete) ... cost zero tokens per turn ... housekeeping, not a performance
problem") keep the prose accurate instead of the generic "using more space"
default. evidence carries the explicit "zero live-context impact" note.
- token-hotspots: Pattern H emits CA-TOK (low) from discovery.staleCacheVersions
when stale versions exist (`--global`); silent otherwise.
- humanizer: CATEGORY_TO_IMPACT lets a finding's category override the
scanner-default impact label (raw `category` field unchanged -> --json/--raw
byte-stable). humanizer-data: honest static translation for the finding.
- Tests: finding fires/severity/category, lists stale keys + zero-impact note,
silent when none; humanizer override -> Dead config; honest translation locked.
- Docs: tokens command render note (disk-cleanup, not a token problem) +
--no-exclude-cache flag; README + CLAUDE.md rows (7 patterns, cache-aware).
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Annotate every ranked TOK hotspot with the load-pattern triple
(loadPattern/survivesCompaction/derivationConfidence):
- hotspotLoadPattern() maps each discovery `type` → a deriveLoadPattern kind.
Rules reuse activeConfig.rules for precise `scoped` handling; claude-md maps
by scope. Two new deriveLoadPattern kinds back the rest: `command`
(on-demand — body loads on /invoke) and `harness-config` (external —
settings/keybindings/.mcp.json/hooks.json/plugin.json configure the CLI, not
the model context, so they cost no per-turn context tokens). Honest split:
the .mcp.json FILE is external; the MCP server's tool schemas are a separate
`always` hotspot.
Byte-stability — the opposite of B1's manifest. token-hotspots IS a byte-equal
SC-6/SC-7 CLI, and its hotspots ride inside scan-orchestrator + posture, so the
change touched SIX frozen-v5.0.0 comparisons across five test files. Resolved by
preserving the frozen baselines: a shared tests/helpers/strip-hotspot-load-pattern.mjs
strips the additive triple before each byte-equal compare (proves the original
schema is byte-identical). SC-5 default-output snapshots (scan-orchestrator +
token-hotspots) regenerated — diff reviewed as additive-only.
Tests 1008→1012. Self-audit A/A, scanner count unchanged at 13 (C bumps to 14).
Completes v5.6 B (B1 manifest + B2 token-hotspots).
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Fase 4 token-opt, Item 1 of gap-review NEXT STEP #2. The prompt-cache pattern corpus + TOK scanner were frozen at an "Opus 4.7" framing after CC shipped Opus 4.8 (default, 2.1.154) and Fable 5 (2.1.170). Model-era facts re-verified against the official changelog cache before editing.
The patterns are properties of prompt-caching, not of any model, so mechanic text is now model-neutral with a single "current default: Opus 4.8" anchor — preventing a re-freeze at the next model bump.
- rename knowledge/opus-4.7-patterns.md -> prompt-cache-patterns.md (git mv, history preserved); 6 reference sites updated
- TOK scanner: line-318 finding text (human-facing) made model-neutral; header + cache-prefix-scanner + CLI comments refreshed
- configuration-best-practices.md body + footnote 4.7 -> 4.8
- human-facing docs: commands/{tokens,help,manifest}.md, project CLAUDE.md, README, docs/scanner-internals.md
- gap-matrix row marked DONE; future Items 2/3 retargeted to new filename
Failing-test-first (Iron Law): +2 knowledge staleness guards (era-anchor + no-refreeze) +1 scanner assertion (no stale model anchor in finding text). Suite 853 -> 856 green; zero snapshot drift; self-audit A(97) PASS. CHANGELOG / v5 plan / ratified gap-plan keep historical opus-4.7-patterns refs (correct record of past state).
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_01Ter3E2JSi1Khgmuf2kady8
The v5.0.0-rc.1 N5 implementation looked up hotspot.path in
calibrateAgainstApi() but token-hotspots.mjs only emitted hotspot.source —
calibration silently produced 0 actual_tokens because every iteration hit
the `if (!hotspot?.path) continue` guard.
Fix: file-backed hotspots now expose `path: h.absPath` in the JSON output.
MCP-server hotspots intentionally leave path unset — their tokens are
runtime tool-schema (formula-based: 500 + toolCount × 200), not file
content readable by count_tokens.
SC-6b release-gate verified against tests/fixtures/marketplace-large:
- Actual (count_tokens, claude-opus-4-7): 589 tokens for CLAUDE.md
- Estimated (4-bytes/token byte heuristic): 594 tokens
- Delta: -5 tokens / -0.85% — well within ±5% gate. PASS.
CHANGELOG: documented the fix + SC-6b result inline under [5.0.0].
All 635 tests still green. No estimateTokens tuning required for v5.0.0.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Adds detectMcpToolBudget detection block in TOK scanner. Tiered severity
per project-local .mcp.json server based on toolCount:
- < 20: no finding
- 20-49: low
- 50-99: medium
- 100+: high
- null (manifest unparseable): low + "tool count unknown" message
Scoped to source==='.mcp.json' to keep findings actionable for the
audited path; plugin/user-level MCP servers are surfaced by the
manifest scanner (Step 19 / N2).
5 fixtures (mcp-budget/{14,25,60,120,unknown}-tools) use inline `tools`
arrays in .mcp.json — no node_modules needed for these tests.
Tests assert title+severity (not exact ID) since TOK IDs are sequential
per scan, not semantic per pattern.
[skip-docs] reason: v5 plan fences off README/CLAUDE.md badge updates
to Session 5; Forgejo pre-commit-docs-gate hook requires this tag on
feat commits without doc changes.
Tests: 586 → 593 (+7).
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 <noreply@anthropic.com>
- New Pattern F in TOK: low-severity finding when SKILL.md description > 500 chars
- Scoped to discovery.files (project-local) — activeConfig.skills walk would
pull in user/plugin skills out of project scope
- New fixtures: skill-bloated (594-char desc) + skill-tight (46-char baseline)
574 → 576 tests, all green.
- New Pattern E in TOK: emits medium finding when activeConfig.claudeMd.estimatedTokens > 10_000
- Uses cascade tokens, file count, and calibration note as evidence
- New fixtures: large-cascade (37k bytes / 14475 cascade tokens) + small-cascade (5k baseline)
572 → 574 tests, all green.
- Pattern A (cache-breaking volatile top): medium → high
- Pattern B (redundant permissions): low → medium
- Pattern C (deep @import chain): medium → low
- Add calibration_note evidence on every TOK finding
- Table-driven severity tests (identify by title, IDs are sequential)
563 → 569 tests, all green. Doc sweep deferred to Session 5 (Step 28).
Pattern D was the v4 sonnet-era signature: 'config is structurally
clean but uses no Opus-4.7-specific features'. Two problems:
- It triggered on any minimal config that happened to lack skills/MCP
- The advice was generic and not actionable
The hotspots ranking and per-pattern findings (A/B/C) cover the same
ground with concrete, file-anchored signal. Dropping the noise.
BREAKING (intentional): scanners no longer emit the sonnet-era info
finding. Suppression entries and downstream tooling that reference
the v4 finding ID should be updated. Doc sweep follows in Step 8b.
Tests: sonnet-era fixture now asserts zero findings.
The buildHotspots padding loop and unused 'take' variable were dead
code from the v3 hotspots-min contract. Replaced with a clean
ranked.slice(0, HOTSPOTS_MAX). Tiny fixtures may now return fewer
than 3 hotspots, which is the honest answer; the contract now only
asserts <= 10.
Tests: +2 cases — every hotspot.source is unique (no padding); length
never exceeds HOTSPOTS_MAX.
Removes the v4 'void readActiveConfig' placeholder and wires the
active-config snapshot into the TOK scanner.
Per-turn behavior changes:
- Each enabled MCP server becomes its own hotspot entry (richer than
the parent .mcp.json file alone)
- total_estimated_tokens now includes MCP server cost
- result.activeConfig exposes a small summary
(claudeMdEstimatedTokens, mcpServerCount, pluginCount, skillCount)
Failures of readActiveConfig are non-fatal — the scanner falls back
to the discovery-only path used in v4.
Tests: +3 cases on the new tok-active-config fixture
(.mcp.json with 2 servers, CLAUDE.md, plugin skeleton).
