Protecting your AI coding usage locally

Make your AI coding plan last longer.

Frugal is a local usage co-pilot for AI coding assistants. It catches repeated context, trims wasteful sessions, and prepares lighter continuations — so you keep coding longer on the plan you already pay for. Starting with Claude Code, expanding to every major AI tool.

Free public beta. Windows · Claude Code · fully local · no account needed.

"I got tired of AI coding tools burning through usage on repeated context — so I built Frugal."

Tools like Claude Code, Cursor, and Codex re-send your project history on every turn. Long sessions, repeated file reads, noisy command output — it all eats the same usage budget you code against. Vendors tell you to manage this by hand. Frugal automates that discipline, on your machine, without changing how you work.

— the maker

🔒
100% Local
Nothing leaves your machine
Zero Latency
Never in the request path
🛡️
Privacy First
No account, no upload
🚀
Multi-Tool Vision
Claude Code today, more coming
See it work

60 seconds: before Frugal / after Frugal

One heavy session, one continuation guide, and the same plan suddenly goes a lot further.

Demo video — coming with the public beta launch
Without Frugal
  • Heavy context re-sent every turn — the longer the session, the more each message costs.
  • Repeated work goes unnoticed — same files read, same commands run, again and again.
  • Limits hit mid-flow — you find out when the work stops.
  • Manual discipline — you're supposed to clear stale context and restart sessions yourself.
With Frugal ON
  • N× more work from the same plan — measured weekly from your own sessions.
  • Repeated work patterns found and shown before they burn more usage.
  • Lighter continuations prepared automatically when a session gets heavy.
  • Zero workflow change — keep using your AI coding tools exactly as you do now.
How it works

Turn it on. Keep coding. That's the workflow.

1

Frugal watches locally

It reads the session data your AI coding tool already writes on your machine — out of the request path, never adding latency, never during a response.

2

It finds the waste

Repeated reads and commands, noisy output filling your context, sessions grown heavy enough that every turn re-pays for the whole history.

3

It prepares the save

Auto Saver writes a lighter continuation guide. Paste it into a fresh session and keep working — same project, fraction of the context.

Auto Saver

Detects heavy sessions in the background and prepares a continuation guide automatically — at most once per session, never in your way.

🔁

Repeated-work radar

Spots identical reads and commands across a session, sizes the waste, and shows what it would save to reuse instead.

📊

Honest proof

Found, prepared, and confirmed savings are counted separately. Estimates are labeled as estimates. No invented numbers — ever.

🔒

Fully local

No account, no upload, no cloud processing. Your code and conversations never leave your machine.

🛡️

Privacy guard

Sensitive files are flagged by name only — never opened — so you can keep them out of AI context.

🧰

Technical view

Power users get the full break-down: session score, burn forecast, cache analysis, evidence log, and a run contract.

Expanding to every AI tool

One optimizer for all your AI coding assistants.

Frugal is built with a pluggable tool-adapter architecture. We're starting with Claude Code and shipping support for more tools — drastic cost and session savings for every AI coder.

● Live now

Claude Code

Full optimization: auto-saver, repeated-work detection, continuation guides, privacy guard, and the complete technical view. Windows beta.

◐ Next up

Cursor

A second tool adapter is already scaffolded in the codebase. Cursor optimization is coming, using the same proven engine and recipes.

◯ Planned

Codex, Copilot & more

Broader AI coding-assistant optimization with shared scanners and recipes across tools. macOS and Linux support on the roadmap too.

🎯

Our mission: Every developer should get the maximum value from every AI coding dollar they spend — across every tool, every platform. Frugal delivers incredible, measurable savings one tool at a time.

Trust & privacy

Local-first, honest by construction.

What Frugal does not do: it does not bypass, extend, or increase any AI vendor's usage limits — and never claims to. It reduces avoidable waste inside the plan you already have. Dollar figures shown anywhere are usage-value estimates, not bills — subscriptions stay flat-rate.
Waitlist

Get priority access to what's next.

Join the waitlist for priority access to new tool support, exclusive features, and founding-member perks when we expand beyond Claude Code. Beta users on the waitlist get first invites.

Email only — used for the waitlist and launch updates, nothing else. Unsubscribe anytime.

FAQ

Questions developers actually ask

Does Frugal bypass or increase AI usage limits?
No — and it never will. Frugal reduces avoidable waste inside your existing plan: repeated context, heavy sessions, noisy output. Your limits are your AI vendor's; Frugal just helps you stop burning them on work you already did.
Does my code or conversation data leave my machine?
No. Frugal runs locally and reads only the session data your AI coding tool already stores on your computer. There is no account, no upload, and no cloud processing. The only network call the app makes is a signed update check (app version + platform, nothing else) — documented in the privacy doc.
Will it slow my AI tool down or intercept my requests?
No. Frugal is out-of-path by design: it never runs inside your AI tool's request→response cycle and adds zero latency. It observes between turns and acts between sessions.
Are the savings numbers real?
They're honest estimates, computed from your own local usage and labeled as estimates everywhere. Frugal separates what it found, what it prepared, and what you confirmed by actually using a continuation guide — and never counts the first as the last. These rules are enforced by automated tests inside the product.
Which AI tools and platforms are supported?
Claude Code on Windows during the beta (terminal CLI, desktop app, and IDE extensions are all covered — they share the same local data). Cursor support is next, followed by Codex, Copilot, and more. macOS and Linux are on the roadmap too — waitlist members get new tools and platforms first.
Is the beta really free?
Yes. The public beta is free while we prove the value with real users. We'll announce any future plans well in advance — waitlist members always get priority access and the best terms.