Frugal is a local waste auditor for Claude Code. It watches your sessions on your machine, finds repeated reads, noisy output, and heavy history, then prepares a lighter continuation before your usage runs out. No proxy. No account. Nothing uploaded.
Free public beta. Windows · Claude Code · fully local · no account needed · checksum below.
SHA-256 of Frugal-AI-Desktop-Setup.exe (v0.1.0-beta.1):
c9af5f019d40ddc2f5011c0671cb516c88824123457d092812d228f8a03b8962
Matches the digest GitHub computed at upload — check it on the release page.
The beta installer isn't code-signed yet, so SmartScreen can show "unknown publisher." That's a missing certificate, not malware — verify the checksum above, or wait for the signed build (in progress). Install guide
Only the local session metadata Claude Code already writes on your machine (~/.claude). It never opens your source files' contents for analysis, never uploads code, prompts, or conversations — the only network call is a signed update check. Privacy doc
Uninstall from Settings → Apps like any other program. No account to close, nothing in the cloud to delete. Uninstall guide
"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
No synthetic benchmarks. This is what Frugal measured from my own Claude Code transcripts last week, on the machine it was built on.
Measured by Frugal from my own local transcripts, week ending July 4, 2026 — 125 turns across 2 sessions. The multiplier is what context reuse was worth that week; Frugal's job is to keep it that high — it watches for the repeated reads, noisy output, and heavy sessions that collapse it, and prepares lighter continuations before they do. Estimates from published API rates, never a bill, never a guarantee. Your numbers are computed locally from your own usage — the app shows you the same report about yourself.
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.
Repeated reads and commands, noisy output filling your context, sessions grown heavy enough that every turn re-pays for the whole history.
Auto Saver writes a lighter continuation guide. Paste it into a fresh session and keep working — same project, fraction of the context.
Detects heavy sessions in the background and prepares a continuation guide automatically — at most once per session, never in your way.
Spots identical reads and commands across a session, sizes the waste, and shows what it would save to reuse instead.
Found, prepared, and confirmed savings are counted separately. Estimates are labeled as estimates. No invented numbers — ever.
No account, no upload, no cloud processing. Your code and conversations never leave your machine.
Sensitive files are flagged by name only — never opened — so you can keep them out of AI context.
Power users get the full break-down: session score, burn forecast, cache analysis, evidence log, and a run contract.
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.
Full optimization: auto-saver, repeated-work detection, continuation guides, privacy guard, and the complete technical view. Windows beta.
A second tool adapter is already scaffolded in the codebase. Cursor optimization is coming, using the same proven engine and recipes.
Broader AI coding-assistant optimization with shared scanners and recipes across tools. macOS and Linux support on the roadmap too.
The three questions every Claude Code power user asks first — answered without spin.
Compaction is reactive: it fires when you're already deep in an expensive session, costs a model call of its own, and compresses history it decides to keep. Frugal works before that point — out-of-path, it watches waste accumulate turn by turn and prepares a continuation guide so your next session starts light instead of squeezing a heavy one.
Monitors tell you that you're burning usage. Frugal tells you why — which repeated reads, which noisy outputs, which heavy history — and hands you the prepared fix, then tracks whether it was actually used. Monitoring versus remediation.
Nothing. Frugal never proxies, intercepts, or modifies a Claude Code request — zero added latency, no limit bypass, no cloud. It reads the local session files Claude Code already writes, between turns, in its own process.
The Windows + Claude Code beta is free and downloadable today — no waitlist needed. This is for everyone else: pick the tool or platform you need and we'll email you the moment it ships. Votes decide the build order.
Email only — used to tell you when your vote ships, nothing else. Unsubscribe anytime. Already on Windows + Claude Code? Just download the beta.