DocsQuickstart

Quickstart

5 min

Get Tokenistt running in your Claude environment in under 5 minutes. No account required to start.

Install the MCP server

npm install -g tokenistt-mcp

Requires Node.js 18+. The MCP server runs locally and intercepts prompts before they reach Anthropic.

Connect your editor

# Claude Desktop
tokenistt connect claude-desktop

# Cursor
tokenistt connect cursor

# Windsurf
tokenistt connect windsurf

# VS Code
tokenistt connect vscode

Verify the connection

tokenistt status

# Expected output:
# ✓ MCP handshake complete
# ✓ Tokenizer loaded (cl100k_base)
# ✓ Analytics streaming to dashboard
# → Intercepting prompts on port 9317

Send your first prompt

Send any prompt through your connected editor. Tokenistt will immediately log the token count, estimated cost, and any detected inefficiencies.

tokenistt watch
# → [14:02:11] summarize() · 1,240 tk · $0.0037 · −68 tk available

TIPOpen your dashboard at tokenistt.com/dashboard to see live graphs, spend attribution, and optimization suggestions.