Public GitHub metadata snapshot. Stars are discovery signals, not benchmark scores.
| Tool | Stars | Freshness | Evidence verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
| Graphify | 83,830 | pushed 2026-07-13 | Excellent persistent graph projection; not an always-on saver |
| Ponytail | 81,839 | v4.8.4, 2026-07-10 | Popular; local A/B was net more tokens |
| RTK | 70,717 | v0.43.0, 2026-06-28 | Strongest mature default; stable process-fixture reduction 97.25% |
| CodeGraph | 59,586 | pushed 2026-07-13 | Strong repeated repo relationship queries; workload-gated |
| Headroom | 58,872 | v0.31.0, 2026-07-09 | Large vendor claims; observed Codex gain was workload-dependent |
| context-mode | 18,878 | v1.0.169 | 99.91% large-log projection; 7,458-token cold schema |
| LLMLingua | 6,431 | pushed 2026-04-08 | Mature research compressor, not a ready coding-agent stack |
| lean-ctx | 3,230 | v3.9.8, 2026-07-12 | Interesting but 76 MCP tools and <14-day release |
| Tilth | 310 | v0.9.0 | Local code-read reduction 86.43% |
| squeez | 167 | v1.36.0, 2026-07-10 | Unverified 95% claim; <14-day release |
| token-saver | 115 | pushed 2026-06-02 | Useful format filters; no measured win over RTK/native projection |
| mcp-compressor | 97 | v0.31.5, 2026-07-09 | Good schema-router design; unnecessary for one lean MCP |
| tokbench | 9 | pushed 2026-06-15 | Useful eval direction; low adoption |
Community sources:
- Atlassian: MCP compression and tool bloat
- StackOne: MCP token optimization
- Pinggy: token-usage tools overview
The strongest repeated community pattern is progressive tool/schema disclosure. Manufacturer savings claims were not promoted over local accepted-output measurements.
| Tool | Local | Upstream | Decision |
|---|---|---|---|
| RTK | 0.43.0 | 0.43.0 | current |
| context-mode | 1.0.169 runtime; older Codex cache | 1.0.169 | runtime current; keep on demand |
| Headroom | 0.31.0 | 0.31.0 | optional provider/proxy; not Lean-default and never MCP |
| Tilth | 0.9.0 | 0.9.0 release | current release |
| Graphify | 0.9.11 | 0.9.14 | defer: release inside 14-day gate |
| CodeGraph | 1.3.1 | 1.4.1 | defer: release inside 14-day gate |
| Ponytail | local unversioned skill | 4.8.4 | do not global-load; measured net negative |
No new candidate was installed merely because it was new or popular.
Existing code graph:
- 2,982 nodes, 6,187 links, 10 hyperedges.
- raw
graph.json: 3,094,806 bytes, about 773,702 tokens. graphify query --budget 800: about 652 tokens, 450 ms.- projection: 99.92% smaller, 1,186.7x reduction.
The graph was stale versus the repo and used a pre-#1504 node-ID schema. This proves compression, not current answer accuracy; rebuild after the Graphify upgrade passes the age gate.
default: router -> RTK -> native projection -> memory/Tilth CLI on demand
heavy payload: context-mode session
repeated structure: choose Graphify OR CodeGraph per repo
broad MCP catalog: benchmark mcp-compressor before enabling
Do not combine every layer. The measured all-on profile cost 12,567 input tokens versus 1,918 for CLI-selective.