Tips That Save You Money

Start fresh often. A new session costs less than resuming an old one. When the context meter passes about 40% or 250K tokens (or after 20 - 30 messages), type end session, then /clear (in the desktop app: + New). Work still open: handoff, then /clear and read handoff.

Always start a fresh session for new work. Old sessions accumulate context that wastes tokens. Type end session to save what you need, then /clear (in the desktop app: + New) to start fresh. Same when you have corrected Claude twice on the same thing: a stuck session keeps repeating its mistake, so Claude now suggests a fresh start, and its handoff note lists what did not work.

Need a quick answer without derailing your task? Type /btw "your quick question". This doesn't add to your conversation history, so it saves tokens.

When possible, point Claude to the specific file or area. For example, "the login page crashes when I leave email empty" is better than "something is broken". If you know the file name, even better: "Fix the bug in src/login.js". The more specific you are, the fewer tokens Claude uses searching.

If Claude seems confused or is going in circles, type /clear (in the desktop app: + New) and start over with a better prompt. A fresh start is often faster than trying to correct course.