# Compact git output


# Compact git output

`git status` and `git diff` are among the most-run commands in any coding
session, and among the noisiest. Every run pushes a wall of text into the context
window - untracked files, unchanged hunks, branch chatter - most of which the
agent does not need. banish compacts that output before it reaches Claude Code,
Cursor, or any MCP agent.

## The problem - git output is verbose

A plain `git status` in a working repository can run to a couple of hundred
tokens, most of it structure the model can infer. `git diff` is worse: full
context lines around every change, repeated for every file. Multiply that by the
number of times an agent checks state during a task and git alone can account for
a large share of a session's tokens.

## Before and after with banish

banish rewrites `git status` to `banish git status`, runs the real command, and
pipes the output through the git filter:

```text
$ banish git status
  -> filter: git  -> 12 tokens
```

The measured savings on a fixed corpus:

| Command | Raw | Compacted | Saved |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| git status (clean) | 40 | 3 | 92 percent |
| git diff --stat | 127 | 2 | 98 percent |

Token counts vary with repository state - a busy repository saves more in absolute
terms. See the [methodology](/docs/reference/methodology) for how these are
measured and how to reproduce them.

## How the git filter works

The git filter keeps the parts that carry meaning - which files changed and how -
and drops the boilerplate. It is one of the filters banish ships with out of the
box; see [built-in filters](/docs/reference/built-in-filters) for the full set and
the directives each one uses. Because it compacts rather than truncates, you never
lose a changed path. If the filter fails, banish returns the raw output.

## Write your own for another command

The same approach works for any noisy command. The [.bsh language](/docs/concepts/bsh-language)
lets you define a filter for a new command in about ten lines - no recompile, no
plugin system. Drop it in `~/.banish/ext` and the command is compacted the next
time your agent runs it.