Installation

Name collision warning

Two unrelated projects share the name rtk. Make sure you install the right one:

Rust Token Killer (rtk-ai/rtk) — this project, a token-saving CLI proxy
Rust Type Kit (reachingforthejack/rtk) — a different tool for generating Rust types

The easiest way to verify you have the correct one: run rtk gain. It should display token savings stats. If it returns "command not found", you either have the wrong package or RTK is not installed.

Check before installing

bash

rtk --version   # should print: rtk x.y.z
rtk gain        # should show token savings stats

If both commands work, RTK is already installed. Skip to Project initialization.

Quick install (Linux and macOS)

bash

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/rtk-ai/rtk/master/install.sh | sh

Homebrew (macOS and Linux)

bash

brew install rtk-ai/tap/rtk

Cargo

:::caution[Name collision risk] cargo install rtk may install Rust Type Kit instead of Rust Token Killer — two unrelated projects share the same crate name. Use the explicit Git URL to guarantee the correct package: :::

bash

cargo install --git https://github.com/rtk-ai/rtk rtk

Pre-built binaries (Windows, Linux, macOS)

Download from GitHub releases:

macOS: rtk-x86_64-apple-darwin.tar.gz / rtk-aarch64-apple-darwin.tar.gz
Linux: rtk-x86_64-unknown-linux-musl.tar.gz / rtk-aarch64-unknown-linux-gnu.tar.gz
Windows: rtk-x86_64-pc-windows-msvc.zip

Windows users: Extract the zip and place rtk.exe in a directory on your PATH. Run RTK from Command Prompt, PowerShell, or Windows Terminal — do not double-click the .exe (it prints usage and exits immediately). For full hook support, use WSL instead.

Verify installation

bash

rtk --version   # rtk x.y.z
rtk gain        # token savings dashboard

If rtk gain fails but rtk --version succeeds, you installed Rust Type Kit by mistake. Uninstall it first:

bash

cargo uninstall rtk

Then reinstall using one of the methods above.

Project initialization

Run once per project to enable the Claude Code hook:

bash

rtk init

For a global install that patches settings.json automatically:

bash

rtk init --global

Uninstall

bash

rtk init -g --uninstall    # remove hook, RTK.md, and settings.json entry
cargo uninstall rtk         # remove binary (if installed via Cargo)
brew uninstall rtk          # remove binary (if installed via Homebrew)