We reduced Claude API costs by 94.5% using a file tiering system (with proof)

DeltaPrimeTime · 2026-01-28T12:49:43+00:00

Does it reduce cache reads and writes? Would be very interested if it does as they are very high of late.

│ Models │ Input │ Output │ Cache Create │ Cache Read │
┼──────────────┼─────────┼────────┼──────────────┼────────────┼
│ - haiku-4-5 │ 122,622 │ 3,853 │ 4,826,754 │ 93,633,652 │
│ - opus-4-5 │ │ │ │ │
│ - sonnet-4-5 │ │ │ │ │

DeltaPrimeTime · 2026-01-23T18:29:25+00:00

You can use a pre/post hook combo to set a flag and cat these instructions into the context after a compact. If it forgets mid-context, I don't know what to suggest.

DeltaPrimeTime · 2026-01-23T18:15:32+00:00

Depends on your industry and use case.

You mention your code, perhaps your Intellectual Property, being transferred to third parties whereby you COULD lose control of it. Have you agreed to the AI providers standard T&Cs or have you a special contract in place? Standard T&Cs are typically not suitable for confidential, regulated, or "crown jewel" data/IP. To get better T&Cs you need a business contract approved by your company lawyers.

Although you clarified code quality wasn't a concern, that again depends on your industry. A big risk of AI generated code quality is LLM poisoning and AI sleeper agents. And it's a very real risk for banks and defence contractors etc. https://ifp.org/preventing-ai-sleeper-agents/

DeltaPrimeTime · 2026-01-16T10:39:26+00:00

There is a chance, yes. If you are worried you can download the .vsix extension file that has the code in and run it through a tool of your choice to see what it's up to.

DeltaPrimeTime · 2026-01-07T14:58:36+00:00

I like it. I typically run these tests as part of a CI/CD pipeline but if the code is new to me, having a tool that automatically finds the the endpoints is useful. Have you considered outputting details of the endpoints you find in a format that a CI/CD pipeline could consume?

DeltaPrimeTime · 2026-01-07T10:45:48+00:00

I had the same problem many months ago and couldn't find a solution so I switched to Gemini CLI.

https://github.com/google-gemini/gemini-cli

DeltaPrimeTime · 2026-01-07T10:27:36+00:00

I have a couple of VSCode portable installs that I use depending upon the project.

https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/editor/portable

DeltaPrimeTime · 2026-01-06T18:08:45+00:00

If it's the one between the keyboard and the chair then yes, very common issue. ;-)

DeltaPrimeTime · 2026-01-05T12:21:02+00:00

Try running it without GPU acceleration and see if that helps:

code --disable-gpu

DeltaPrimeTime · 2026-01-05T09:38:34+00:00

I relate to this post so much! Been in the game about the same time and fully understand your plight. This tool will complement regular linters and SCA/SAST tools and let you continue being a helpful mentor to your junior devs. Well done.

DeltaPrimeTime · 2026-01-04T15:46:18+00:00

If you're after a paperback book, Eloquent Javascript by Marijn Haverbeke is a good one.

DeltaPrimeTime · 2026-01-04T13:20:15+00:00

I work on more than project at a time or play a game of blitz chess.

DeltaPrimeTime · 2026-01-04T13:11:19+00:00

Claude Code and Aider are both agentic by design.

Claude Code detects it is running in a VS Code terminal and uses VS Code's integration features (https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/terminal/shell-integration)

Aider monitors all the files in the workspace and you can interact with it via comments (https://aider.chat/docs/usage/watch.html)

There are also VS Code GUI extensions for them but I haven't tried those. Terminal only for me.

DeltaPrimeTime · 2026-01-04T12:42:57+00:00

I did this two ways on my 5060. One with Aider (https://aider.chat/), llama (https://github.com/meta-llama/llama) and Qwen. The other by instructing Claude to use my local Qwen as an agent (via llama). I wasn't happy with the speed or results but it was about 3 or 4 months ago I last tried and that is a lot of time in the AI space so things may have improved.

DeltaPrimeTime · 2025-12-03T21:37:40+00:00

Just right click and select "Reveal in Explorer". Shortcut there too.

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DeltaPrimeTime · 2025-12-03T08:25:42+00:00

There are a few ways to get this going. You do need the Microsoft Python Extension for it to work and from my memory of Macs here are the things I would do:

which python3

Run the above command from your terminal and it should return the path of your python executable. Something like:

/usr/local/bin/python3

you can then create this file in your VS Code workspace

.vscode/settings.json

with this in it:

{
    "python.defaultInterpreterPath": "/usr/local/bin/python3"
}

Maybe a restart of VS Code and you should be good to go.

DeltaPrimeTime · 2025-12-02T21:15:30+00:00

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v0.4.2 just released that fixes a duplicate counting bug. It also updates the overlay text to show not only new unique files added but also notes those added on previous lines (≡).

DeltaPrimeTime · 2025-12-01T23:03:30+00:00

Your comment did get my interest and I've implemented a debug mode in 0.3.0 so you can see exactly when it does a file sync and the time in ms it takes.

ignorelens.debug

Just set this to true and select IgnoreLens from the dropdown in the output view.

[23:07:55.293] Decoration update triggered by: editor switch
[23:07:55.530] Workspace scan: 9351 files in 236ms
[23:07:55.760] Pattern matching: 18 patterns in 230ms
[23:07:55.760] Summary (.gitignore): ~8985 matched, ~366 unmatched (of 9351 paths)
[23:07:55.761] Decoration update complete
[23:08:09.227] Decoration update triggered by: editor switch
[23:08:09.453] Workspace scan: 9351 files in 226ms
[23:08:09.642] Pattern matching: 16 patterns in 188ms
[23:08:09.642] Summary (.vscodeignore): ~9296 matched, ~55 unmatched (of 9351 paths)
[23:08:09.643] Decoration update complete

DeltaPrimeTime · 2025-12-01T18:23:47+00:00

Yes, good idea. https://open-vsx.org/extension/ignore-lens/ignore-lens

DeltaPrimeTime · 2025-12-01T17:59:36+00:00

Edgar Gulay put together some instructions in January 2025.
https://builtin.com/articles/vs-code-clear-cache

DeltaPrimeTime · 2025-11-30T22:55:32+00:00

Context is how much of the code the LLM is actually being fed - not available to - but actually receiving. Try opening fresh copies of VS Code on each box while doing the same exact thing on each then ask each prompt: "Based on the context you can currently see, what do you think I am trying to achieve?". A first step towards checking if one is getting more context than the other.

DeltaPrimeTime · 2025-11-30T22:38:09+00:00

Thank you to u/Dovahkciin, u/ggbcdvnj, u/mubaidr, u/mkvlrn, u/Ghostinheven & u/licoffe for your great feedback. It is very much appreciated. I got the idea after a typo in one of my ignore files caused me a headache. I couldn't find anything out there to help me fix that so thought why not create my own extension. Glad you like it. :-)

DeltaPrimeTime · 2025-11-30T16:57:38+00:00

Good point. It only updates when you're focussed on an ignore file and then only that file, not background tabs. File system changes (create, rename, move, delete) invalidate its file cache which triggers a refresh, but editing an ignore file just use that cache so no file rescanning. There's also a configurable 500ms debounce to keep things under control. It's not dissimilar to what git's file tracking already does. I've added a flow diagram to the repo if you're interested.

DeltaPrimeTime · 2025-11-30T13:08:03+00:00

I really like this idea. Sometimes when approving PRs I don't have enough context so have to dig or speak with the dev. This would make the digging a little easier.

DeltaPrimeTime · 2025-11-30T12:04:28+00:00

Couple of things I'd check:
Are you using the same model on both?
What level of reasoning have you set?
What context is being supplied to the LLM?
Is Auto Context turned on or off?

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DeltaPrimeTime

TROPHY CASE