everything-claude-code/skills/token-budget-advisor/SKILL.md

name, description, origin

name	description	origin
token-budget-advisor	Intercepts the response flow to offer the user an informed choice about how much depth/tokens to consume — BEFORE responding. Use this skill when the user wants to control token consumption, adjust response depth, choose between short/long answers, or optimize their prompt. TRIGGER when: "token budget", "response token budget", "token count", "token usage", "response length", "response depth", "brief answer", "short answer", "detailed answer", "full answer", "respuesta corta vs larga", "cuántos tokens", "ahorrar tokens", "responde al 50%", "dame la versión corta", "quiero controlar cuánto usas", "25% depth", "50% depth", "75% depth", "100% depth", "give me the full answer", or any variant where the user wants to control length, depth, or token usage — even without mentioning tokens. DO NOT TRIGGER when: user has already specified a level in the current session (maintain it), the request is clearly a one-word answer, or "token" refers to auth/session/payment tokens rather than response size.	community

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 estimation guidance from skills/context-budget.

• Prose-first prompts: input_tokens ≈ word_count × 1.3
• Code-heavy or mixed prompts: input_tokens ≈ char_count / 4

For mixed content, prefer the code-heavy estimate as the conservative default.

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 answer" / "brief answer" / "tldr"	25%
"2" / "50% depth" / "moderate detail" / "balanced answer"	50%
"3" / "75% depth" / "detailed answer" / "thorough explanation"	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 brief answer first."
• "How many tokens will your response use?"
• "Respond at 50% depth."
• "I want the full answer."
• "Dame la version corta."

Does Not Trigger

• "Explain OAuth token refresh flow." (token here is domain language, not a budget request)
• "Why is this JWT token invalid?" (security/domain usage, not response sizing)
• "What is 2 + 2?" (trivially short answer)
• "Complete the refactor and then open a PR." (complete here is task language, not a depth choice)

Source

Standalone skill from TBA — Token Budget Advisor for Claude Code. The upstream project includes an optional estimator script, but this ECC skill intentionally stays zero-dependency and heuristic-only.