Claude Code's 33K-Token Load vs OpenCode's 7K: What the Gap Actually Means
A logging proxy placed between coding agents and an AI model revealed that Claude Code sends roughly 33,000 tokens of scaffolding before any user prompt, compared to OpenCode's approximately 7,000 tokens. The bulk of Claude Code's token load comes from 27 tool definitions totaling nearly 100,000 characters, covering orchestration features like subagent delegation, worktree management, and monitoring — not just coding functions. OpenCode, by contrast, ships 10 tools and no scaffolding, making it leaner but also less capable out of the box. Testing showed the tradeoff is task-dependent: on complex multi-step work, Claude Code's batched tool calls made full sessions cheaper, while simple tasks farmed out to subagents ballooned token usage to over 500,000. The core question is not which baseline is smaller, but whether the extra capabilities justify their per-turn cost for a given workload.
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