Cheat Sheet · Claude Optimization
Claude credit optimization cheat sheet.
23 token-saving habits at a glance. Print it, pin it, hand it to your team. The full guide is here.
Advanced moves
Compounding wins most people miss.
Convert files first
PDFs and screenshots to clean markdown before upload.
Plan in chat, build in Code
Scope the work in chat. Switch to Claude Code only when locked.
Ask Claude to ask you
'Ask me five clarifying questions first.' Then answer all of them.
Dictate opening prompts
Voice-to-text for the first message. Richer, longer, more specific.
Redo sections, not outputs
Quote the bad paragraph. Ask for a rewrite of just that piece.
Batch related asks
One message asking for three outputs beats three messages.
Reuse prompt templates
Same prefix every time. Caching does the rest.
Edit, don't stack
Edit the original prompt instead of piling correction messages on it.
Match product to task
Chat for thinking. Code for editing. Projects for recurring context.
Core habits
Boring on their own. Brutal stacked.
Context files under 2,000 words
Cut anything that is not load-bearing on every task.
Restart, do not patch
Open a new chat instead of dragging a broken thread back on rails.
Summarize every 15 to 20 turns
Ask for a bullet recap. Start a new chat from it.
Cheaper models for cheap work
Haiku for tagging. Sonnet for most. Opus only when needed.
Do not dump files
Five focused files beat fifteen vague ones every time.
One topic per chat
Sales in one. Eng in another. Do not mix.
Turn off unused tools
Web search, connectors, computer use. Disable when irrelevant.
Quick wins
Set once. Save forever.
Use Projects for recurring files
Load once. Stop pasting the same docs into every chat.
Set user preferences
Tone, format, code style. Once, in settings. Not every prompt.
Schedule recurring work
Daily summaries, weekly reports. Automate, do not retype.
Scope Claude Code tightly
Point at the smallest dir that holds the work.
CLAUDE.md for permanents
Project rules go in the file, not in every opener.
Spread heavy work across the day
Usage windows reset on rolling 5-hour cycles. Pace it.
Right AI tool for the job
Not every problem is a Claude problem. Pick the cheapest tool.
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