Analyzing Claude Code Token Overhead and Caching Costs Against OpenCode
A systematic analysis of developer agents reveals that Claude Code injects around 33,000 tokens of system prompts, tool schemas, and reminders before reading your query, compared to OpenCode's minimal 7,000 tokens. This overhead escalates with system instructions, custom AGENTS.md files, and active Model Context Protocol servers, heavily impacting prompt-caching efficiency.
Why it matters
A systematic analysis of developer agents reveals that Claude Code injects around 33,000 tokens of system prompts, tool schemas, and reminders before reading your query, compared to OpenCode's minimal 7,000 tokens. This overhead escalates with system instructions, custom AGENTS.md files, and active Model Context Protocol servers, heavily impacting prompt-caching efficiency.
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