# Best Practices for Using Fewer Tokens

> Practical tips to reduce token usage and get faster, cheaper results in Rakenne.

Author: map[bio:Founder linkedin:https://www.linkedin.com/in/ricardocabral/ name:Ricardo Cabral]
Published: 2026-02-12
Tags: tokens, efficiency, prompts
URL: https://rakenne.app/learn/best-practices/using-fewer-tokens/index.md


Every message and file you send to the agent consumes tokens. Using fewer tokens means lower cost and quicker responses. Here are practical ways to stay efficient in Rakenne.

## 1. Keep prompts focused

- Ask one thing at a time instead of stacking many questions in a single message.
- Be specific: “Summarize the second paragraph” is better than “summarize this” when the document is long.
- Avoid repeating long context in follow-up messages; the agent already has the conversation.

## 2. Trim the workspace

- Remove or move files that aren’t needed for the current task. The agent can see everything in the project.
- Use small, representative samples instead of uploading entire large datasets when you’re testing or exploring.
- Keep only the documents you’re actually working on in the active workspace.

## 3. Start fresh when the task changes

- For a new goal or a new document set, start a new session. Old messages and references add tokens and can confuse the agent.
- Use session management to decide when to continue in the same thread and when to begin again.

## 4. Prefer structure over length

- When you need output in a certain format, say so up front (e.g. “Reply in bullet points” or “Use this template”).
- Shorter, structured answers often use fewer tokens than long, free-form ones.

## 5. Combine with context hygiene

Clean context and fewer tokens go together: less irrelevant content in the workspace and in the conversation means the model has less to read and process. See [LLM context hygiene](/learn/best-practices/llm-context-hygiene/) and the [Session management](/learn/tutorials/session-management/) tutorial to tie it all together.


---

Back to [Best Practices](https://rakenne.app/learn/best-practices/index.md)