Compress AI prompts by 20–40% and monitor every AI agent running in your editor in real time.

Terse brings the full macOS app experience into VS Code: live session monitoring for Claude Code, Copilot Chat, Cursor, Continue, Cline, and Aider — plus a prompt optimizer with 20+ compression techniques, spellcheck, and smart model routing suggestions.

⚡ Agent Monitor

Terse automatically detects AI agents running in your VS Code environment and shows live session stats — no setup required.

Supported Agents

Agent	Detection	Session Data
Claude Code	Process scan	Live JSONL streaming · exact token counts · cache efficiency
GitHub Copilot Chat	Extension API	Detected · activity indicator
Cursor Agent	App name / process	Conversation history · estimated tokens
Continue.dev	Extension API	Detected · activity indicator
Cline	Extension API	Detected · activity indicator
Roo Code	Extension API	Detected · activity indicator
Aider	Process + `.aider.chat.history.md`	Conversation turns · estimated tokens

Live Stats per Agent

Context fill meter — visual bar showing % of context window used (warning at 60%, danger at 85%)
Token count — exact (Claude Code) or estimated (others)
Cost in USD — real-time cost calculated from Anthropic API pricing
Burn rate — tokens/min based on rolling 5-minute window
Cache efficiency — % of input tokens served from prompt cache (Claude Code only)
Activity feed — last 5 messages with role labels (user / assistant / tool)

Auto-Routing Suggestions

Terse analyzes your session and recommends a cheaper model when appropriate:

Short/simple sessions → "Route to Haiku for 80% cost savings ($0.80/M vs $3/M)"
Long context → "Context 85% full — compress or start a new session"
Low cache hit rate → "Add a CLAUDE.md to improve prompt caching"
Redundant tool calls → "package.json read 3× this session"
Large tool results → "3 large tool results — consider truncating output"

Claude Code Hooks

For Claude Code specifically, Terse can install PostToolUse hooks that compress tool outputs before they enter the context window — reducing bloat from large file reads, grep results, and terminal output.

Click Install Hooks on the Claude Code card in the Agent Monitor panel.

🧠 Prompt Optimizer

3 Optimization Modes

Mode	What it does
Soft	Contractions + whitespace only. 100% meaning-preserving.
Normal	Removes filler, hedging, politeness, meta-language. Balanced.
Aggressive	Everything in Normal + abbreviations + telegraph-style. Max savings.

20+ Optimization Techniques

Filler & hedging removal (basically, I think that, perhaps)
Phrase shortening (in order to → to, make a decision → decide)
Meta-language removal (I want you to, the following is, let me explain)
Question-to-imperative (Can you explain X? → Explain X.)
Redundant modifier collapse (clear and concise → concise)
Politeness stripping (greetings, apologies, thank-yous in 8 languages)
Vocabulary simplification (utilize → use, facilitate → help)
Passive voice removal
Self-context removal (I'm a developer working on… → removed)
Log & terminal output deduplication
Stack trace compression (first + last frame only)
Code signature extraction (declarations only, no bodies)
Contraction expansion (do not → don't)
Numeralization (twenty → 20)

Spellcheck Pipeline

Every optimization runs through a 3-layer spellcheck:

400+ hardcoded coding-domain typos (fucntion → function, databse → database)
Hunspell English dictionary via nspell
Context-aware real-word error correction

Quick Start

Install the extension
Sign in via the Terse sidebar (activity bar lightning bolt icon)
Agent monitoring starts automatically — open the sidebar to see detected agents

For prompt optimization:

Select text → right-click → Terse: Optimize & Replace
Or press Cmd+Shift+O (Mac) / Ctrl+Shift+O (Windows/Linux)

Keyboard Shortcuts

Shortcut	Action
`Cmd+Shift+T`	Open Terse panel
`Cmd+Shift+O`	Optimize & replace selection
`Cmd+Shift+Y`	Copy optimized text to clipboard

Commands

All commands available in the Command Palette (Cmd+Shift+P):

Terse: Show Panel
Terse: Optimize Selection
Terse: Optimize & Replace
Terse: Copy Optimized
Terse: Set Optimization Mode
Terse: Toggle Auto Mode
Terse: Sign In
Terse: Upgrade Plan

Settings

Setting	Default	Description
`terse.mode`	`normal`	Optimization mode: `soft`, `normal`, `aggressive`
`terse.autoMode`	`false`	Auto-optimize selection as you type (debounced)
`terse.autoReplace`	`false`	Auto-replace selection when auto-mode fires
`terse.showStatusBar`	`true`	Show token count in status bar
`terse.debounceMs`	`600`	Debounce delay for auto-mode (ms)

Plans

Plan	Features
Free Trial (30 days)	Full access to all features, all agents
Pro	Unlimited optimizations, up to 3 devices
Premium	Unlimited everything, priority support

Sign in from the sidebar panel. No credit card required for trial.
Your Terse account works across the macOS app and VS Code extension.

Privacy

Text is optimized locally in VS Code — your prompts never leave your machine.
Agent monitoring reads local files only (~/.claude/projects/, Cursor SQLite, etc.).
Auth and license checks use HTTPS to terseai.org.
No telemetry, no prompt logging.

Terse — AI Agent Monitor & Token Optimizer