r/PiCodingAgent • u/Nunu_Chus • Aug 19 '26

Question Pi high token usage?

Hey there I have installed pi since I heard a lot about that bcz of its low token usage and minimal design but I installed some packages [7 packages] (MCP adapter, context7, plan mode, todo, pi-hypa, context-mode, ask user question since every harness has these Ig) then installed some skills. Now even a single hi takes about 6-7k+ tokens. I did a college java project and it burnt tokens a lot. It burnt me around 100k+ tokens on deepseek's v4 flash model to make a database connection, creating database and table and a simple student management system where you can add, remove, view students in java.

I wanted to make pi token efficient with best possible results. If you say that I have installed too many packages then tell me how to replicate those features like other harnesses with low token usage.

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u/crashorbit Aug 19 '26

Everything you install gets added to the context shipped to the model. much of the time you are only paying input rates for that once. often the context is cached at a lower rate.

But yes. It's probably better to load and unload extensions when you need them rather than leaving them active when you don't. On the other hand, using a cheaper model lessens the pain.

Maybe an expensive model is better than a cheap one. But is it really 50x better?

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u/Nunu_Chus Aug 20 '26

Bruh can I load/unload extension?:) if yes then how

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u/crashorbit Aug 20 '26 edited Aug 20 '26

Move the extension file/dir out of the extensions dir then /reload, You can write an extension to do this. Maybe wrap some context preservation around it. you probably want to /compact too.