token-budget-advisor

Token Budget Advisor (TBA)

Intercept the response flow to offer the user a choice about response depth before Claude answers.

When to Use

• User wants to control how long or detailed a response is
• User mentions tokens, budget, depth, or response length
• User says "short version", "tldr", "brief", "al 25%", "exhaustive", etc.
• Any time the user wants to choose depth/detail level upfront

Do not trigger when: user already set a level this session (maintain it silently), or the answer is trivially one line.

How It Works

Step 1 — Estimate input tokens

Use the repository's canonical context-budget heuristics to estimate the prompt's token count mentally.

Use the same calibration guidance as [context-budget](../context-budget/SKILL.md):

• prose: words × 1.3
• code-heavy or mixed/code blocks: chars / 4

For mixed content, use the dominant content type and keep the estimate heuristic.

Step 2 — Estimate response size by complexity

Classify the prompt, then apply the multiplier range to get the full response window:

| Complexity | Multiplier range | Example prompts |

|--------------|------------------|------------------------------------------------------|

| Simple | 3× – 8× | "What is X?", yes/no, single fact |

| Medium | 8× – 20× | "How does X work?" |

| Medium-High | 10× – 25× | Code request with context |

| Complex | 15× – 40× | Multi-part analysis, comparisons, architecture |

| Creative | 10× – 30× | Stories, essays, narrative writing |

Response window = input_tokens × mult_min to input_tokens × mult_max (but don’t exceed your model’s configured output-token limit).

Step 3 — Present depth options

Present this block before answering, using the actual estimated numbers:

Analyzing your prompt...

Input: ~[N] tokens  |  Type: [type]  |  Complexity: [level]  |  Language: [lang]

Choose your depth level:

[1] Essential   (25%)  ->  ~[tokens]   Direct answer only, no preamble
[2] Moderate    (50%)  ->  ~[tokens]   Answer + context + 1 example
[3] Detailed    (75%)  ->  ~[tokens]   Full answer with alternatives
[4] Exhaustive (100%)  ->  ~[tokens]   Everything, no limits

Which level? (1-4 or say "25% depth", "50% depth", "75% depth", "100% depth")

Precision: heuristic estimate ~85-90% accuracy (±15%).

Level token estimates (within the response window):

• 25% → min + (max - min) × 0.25
• 50% → min + (max - min) × 0.50
• 75% → min + (max - min) × 0.75
• 100% → max

Step 4 — Respond at the chosen level

| Level | Target length | Include | Omit |

|------------------|---------------------|-----------------------------------------------------|---------------------------------------------------|

| 25% Essential | 2-4 sentences max | Direct answer, key conclusion | Context, examples, nuance, alternatives |

| 50% Moderate | 1-3 paragraphs | Answer + necessary context + 1 example | Deep analysis, edge cases, references |

| 75% Detailed | Structured response | Multiple examples, pros/cons, alternatives | Extreme edge cases, exhaustive references |

| 100% Exhaustive | No restriction | Everything — full analysis, all code, all perspectives | Nothing |

Shortcuts — skip the question

If the user already signals a level, respond at that level immediately without asking:

| What they say | Level |

|----------------------------------------------------|-------|

| "1" / "25% depth" / "short version" / "brief answer" / "tldr" | 25% |

| "2" / "50% depth" / "moderate depth" / "balanced answer" | 50% |

| "3" / "75% depth" / "detailed answer" / "thorough answer" | 75% |

| "4" / "100% depth" / "exhaustive answer" / "full deep dive" | 100% |

If the user set a level earlier in the session, maintain it silently for subsequent responses unless they change it.

Precision note

This skill uses heuristic estimation — no real tokenizer. Accuracy ~85-90%, variance ±15%. Always show the disclaimer.

Examples

Triggers

• "Give me the short version first."
• "How many tokens will your answer use?"
• "Respond at 50% depth."
• "I want the exhaustive answer, not the summary."
• "Dame la version corta y luego la detallada."

Does Not Trigger

• "What is a JWT token?"
• "The checkout flow uses a payment token."
• "Is this normal?"
• "Complete the refactor."
• Follow-up questions after the user already chose a depth for the session

Source

Standalone skill from TBA — Token Budget Advisor for Claude Code.

Original project also ships a Python estimator script, but this repository keeps the skill self-contained and heuristic-only.