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Headroom

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Headroom (Apache 2.0) is a token-compression layer for LLM inputs: it compresses tool outputs, logs, files and RAG chunks before they enter the context window - the "compress" building block of Context Engineering. Compression is reversible (originals stay retrievable), and specialized compressors target JSON, code and prose.

  • Ships as Python/TypeScript library, a transparent proxy, an MCP server and agent wrappers for Claude Code, Cursor and others - easy to trial without rewriting the pipeline.
  • Claims ~20% token reduction for coding agents and 60-95% for JSON at "equal answers" - validate these on your own workloads.
  • Young and 0.x: API stability not guaranteed; OSS core is local/free, with a managed cloud as the business model.

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