Skill Payload Budget Optimizer

Plan which agent skills to keep, compress or defer when their combined token payload exceeds the context window minus reserved tokens.

{
  "summary": {
    "totalSkills": 4,
    "contextWindow": 128000,
    "reservedTokens": 84000,
    "availableTokens": 44000,
    "totalTokens": 48900,
    "totalBytes": 135300,
    "overBudgetBy": 4900,
    "projectedTotalTokens": 44000,
    "projectedUtilizationPct": 100
  },
  "optimizationPlan": [
    {
      "skillId": "dependency-audit",
      "action": "defer",
      "tokensToCut": 4900,
      "projectedTokens": 13700,
      "reason": "Low criticality and low invocation density."
    },
    {
      "skillId": "release-note-writer",
      "action": "keep",
      "tokensToCut": 0,
      "projectedTokens": 12200,
      "reason": "High efficiency per token under current budget."
    },
    {
      "skillId": "oncall-handoff",
      "action": "keep",
      "tokensToCut": 0,
      "projectedTokens": 9700,
      "reason": "High efficiency per token under current budget."
    },
    {
      "skillId": "incident-triage",
      "action": "keep",
      "tokensToCut": 0,
      "projectedTokens": 8400,
      "reason": "High efficiency per token under current budget."
    }
  ],
  "prioritizedForReview": [
    {
      "skillId": "dependency-audit",
      "efficiency": 0.0007,
      "tokens": 18600,
      "criticality": "low"
    },
    {
      "skillId": "release-note-writer",
      "efficiency": 0.0057,
      "tokens": 12200,
      "criticality": "medium"
    },
    {
      "skillId": "oncall-handoff",
      "efficiency": 0.0085,
      "tokens": 9700,
      "criticality": "medium"
    },
    {
      "skillId": "incident-triage",
      "efficiency": 0.0789,
      "tokens": 8400,
      "criticality": "high"
    }
  ],
  "guardrails": [
    "Keep high-criticality skills active unless policy blocks require isolation.",
    "Recompute budget after every skill version bump.",
    "Reserve at least 20% context for conversation + response tokens."
  ]
}

Use withMCP Tool Search Budget Simulatorto validate full prompt-window impact.

Updated October 2, 2026. Provided as is. Check the output before you rely on it in production.

How to use Skill Payload Budget Optimizer

1

Provide context and reserve budget

Enter model context window and reserved token budget for conversation and response output before adding individual skill payloads.
2

Add per-skill payload stats

List each skill's token count, byte size, daily invocation volume, and criticality so the optimizer can rank efficiency correctly.
3

Run budget optimization

Generate over-budget deltas and a deterministic plan with keep, compress, or defer actions for each skill pack.
4

Apply top review candidates

Start with lowest-efficiency high-token skills in the prioritized review list to recover budget quickly without harming critical workflows.
5

Recalculate after each version bump

Repeat optimization whenever skills grow or context constraints change to keep prompt utilization within safe thresholds.

Questions and answers

What inputs are required for optimization?

You need context window size, reserved token budget, and per-skill token/byte footprint plus usage and criticality signals.

How does the optimizer choose keep, compress, or defer?

It scores each skill by value density (usage and criticality relative to token cost), then applies deterministic cuts when total payload exceeds available budget.

Can I use this for MCP and non-MCP skill packs?

Yes. Any skill payload set with token and byte stats can be optimized, regardless of runtime, as long as context constraints are known.

Does optimization remove skills automatically?

No. The output is a plan. You review and apply recommendations manually to avoid accidental removal of critical capabilities.

What utilization target is considered safe?

A common guardrail is keeping at least 20% of the context window free for conversation state and response generation headroom.

For AI agents: how to call this tool

Machine-readable contract, endpoints and examples. Humans can ignore this section.

Best Path For Builders

Browser workflow

Runs instantly in the browser with private local processing and copy/export-ready output.

Browser Workflow

This tool is optimized for instant in-browser execution with local data handling. Run it here and copy/export the output directly.

/skill-payload-budget-optimizer/

For automation planning, fetch the canonical contract at /api/tool/skill-payload-budget-optimizer.json.

Skill Payload Budget Optimizer