# Claude Optimizations

> A dashboard that shows why Claude Code costs what it does, day by day, and tracks the fixes that bring the bill down.

Claude Optimizations is a live dashboard that breaks your daily Claude Code spend into rules, re-reads, tool output, and new work, then tracks the fixes that bring it down.

- Website: https://claudeoptimizations.theportlandcompany.com/
- Get it: https://claude-optimizations.theportlandcompany.com
- Availability: Free web dashboard, plus a free macOS menu bar app
- Price: Free
- Platform: macOS
- Made by: Spencer Hill, The Portland Company (https://theportlandcompany.com)
- Privacy: https://theportlandcompany.com/privacy

## What it shows you

- **The re-read tax**: Every agent step re-sends the whole conversation so far. This chart shows how much of your spend is rules and tool lists, how much is re-read history, and how much is genuinely new work.
- **Daily spend, with a timeline**: A day-by-day bar chart of what Claude Code cost, with any day you shipped a cost fix marked so you can see the before and after.
- **Where the money goes**: A breakdown of cache reads, cache writes, and output for any period you pick, compared against an earlier period of your choosing.
- **A tracked list of fixes**: Concrete levers like shrinking instruction files, trimming tool output, and compacting sooner, each one showing what share of spend it targets and whether it is done.
- **What-if calculators**: See what your spend would look like if more work ran on cheaper models, or if a specific request pattern changed, before you commit to changing anything.
- **A free macOS app**: A lightweight menu bar wrapper around the same dashboard, so the numbers are one click away without keeping a browser tab open.

## How it works

1. **Point it at your usage**: A snapshot script reads your local Claude Code logs and produces a daily usage report. No conversation content leaves your machine.
2. **It publishes a dashboard**: The daily numbers are turned into the charts and tables you see on the live site, refreshed automatically.
3. **You read it and act**: Pick a period, compare it to an earlier one, and work through the list of fixes ranked by how much of your spend each one targets.

## FAQ

### Is this made by Anthropic?

No. Claude Optimizations is an independent tool built by The Portland Company. It is not affiliated with or endorsed by Anthropic.

### Does it see my conversation content?

No. It reads token and cost totals from your local Claude Code usage logs, not the contents of your conversations.

### Do I need the macOS app to use this?

No. The dashboard runs in any browser. The macOS app is a convenience wrapper for people who want it in their menu bar.

### What is the 're-read tax'?

It is the cost of an agent re-sending its full conversation history, rules, and tool list on every step. The dashboard measures how much of your bill is this re-reading versus genuinely new work.

### Will this change my Claude Code settings for me?

No. It shows you what is driving your spend and lists specific fixes. Applying them is up to you.

### Is it free?

Yes, both the dashboard and the macOS app are free.

## More from The Portland Company

https://theportlandcompany.com/apps