RTK

Parent: Integrations.

RTK rewrites common shell commands into token-efficient forms before they run. When the rtk binary is on your PATH, Rho uses it automatically for agent shell tools. You do not run rtk init, install host hooks, or change prompts.

Install RTK

Install the rtk binary with the method you prefer from the RTK project, then confirm it is on PATH:

rtk --version

Rho needs RTK 0.23 or newer so rtk rewrite is available. Older versions are treated as unavailable.

What Rho does

When RTK is available and enabled:

1. Before bash or powershell runs a command, Rho calls rtk rewrite on the command string.
2. If rewrite returns a different non-empty command, Rho runs that rewritten form.
3. After the command finishes, Rho writes RTK-compatible analytics records so rtk gain and rtk discover can account for Rho shell use.

Commands that already start with rtk are left unchanged. Empty commands are not rewritten. Rewrite is skipped when the process environment sets RTK_DISABLED=1.

Rho does not rewrite:

• inline shell commands you type in the TUI
• in-process tools such as grep and glob (prefer those for workspace search)
• SDK coding-tool shells that must authorize and execute the same immutable process description

Rewritten commands still go through the normal shell path, so RTK records savings through its usual rtk gain path.

Example

Without RTK, an agent might run:

git status

With RTK available, Rho may rewrite that to:

rtk git status

The agent still requested git status. The rewrite is an execution detail.

Configuration

[behavior].rtk in ~/.rho/config.toml defaults to true:

[behavior]
rtk = true

Set rtk = false to leave shell commands unchanged even when the binary is installed. The /config browser under Agent behavior exposes the same toggle. See configuration.

For a one-off disable without editing config, set RTK_DISABLED=1 in the environment.

Analytics and discover

Rewritten runs participate in RTK's savings history through the RTK binary.

Rho also writes discover-compatible command records under the Claude projects directory so rtk discover can include Rho shell commands:

~/.claude/projects/<encoded-cwd>/rho-sessions/rho-<pid>-<uuid>.jsonl

Set CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR to override the default ~/.claude root used by both Rho and RTK.

These records store the command string and a placeholder sized to the tool output length. They do not copy command output text.

Check the integration

In the interactive TUI, run /doctor. The rtk row reports:

Status	Meaning
available	rtk --version succeeds and supports rewrite
unavailable	Binary missing, too old, or not runnable

Unavailable is not an error. Rho runs shell commands without rewrite until RTK is installed.

Related

• Integrations - other built-in integrations
• Configuration - the rtk config key
• Tools and workspace - shell tools and permission modes
• Search tools - in-process search that does not need RTK
• Interactive TUI - /doctor and /config