This product was not featured by Product Hunt yet. It will not be visible on their landing page and won't be ranked (cannot win product of the day regardless of upvotes).
Hey Product Hunt! 👋
I'm Kevin, and I built Throttle after reverse-engineering where my Claude Code tokens were actually going.
The backstory:
I'm a solo dad of 4, building dev tools at night (Apple engineer by day). I run a homelab (Proxmox + OPNsense + Wazuh) and build everything with Claude Code.
Last month I hit the 5-hour limit 3 times in one week — always mid-session, no warning, just "You've reached your limit" and my entire context gone.
I was furious. So I dug into `~/.claude/projects/*/conversation.jsonl` and discovered:
- Every session ships 30-50K tokens of config before I even type
- CLAUDE.md alone was 95KB
- `git status` outputs were 2,000 tokens each
- Memory files were loading for projects I wasn't even touching
What I built:
Throttle is the menu bar app I wish existed:
1. Real-time meter — I can SEE my usage approaching limits (5h window + weekly caps)
2. Config optimizer — Compresses CLAUDE.md to 28KB, routes memory files, cleans settings
3. RTK proxy — CLI hook that strips verbose output (git/ls/grep) to essentials
Result: 70% savings on config, 60-90% on CLI operations.
Why native macOS?
I wanted something that:
- Runs silently in the menu bar
- Doesn't need Node/Python/Docker
- Respects privacy (zero telemetry, local-only)
- Feels like a Mac app
Lessons from building this:
1. The "compaction tax" is real — Claude Code's session-start overhead is massive
2. Most devs have NO IDEA where their tokens go until they're throttled
3. Pricing one-time vs subscription for dev tools is still controversial (I chose one-time)
Happy to answer any questions about:
- How the JSONL parsing works
- The RTK proxy architecture
- Why I chose €9 pricing
- How to avoid the pitfalls of "aggressive" token optimizers
If you use Claude Code on a Mac and this sounds useful, I'd love your feedback!
Download: https://lorislab.fr/apps/throttl...
🎁 Use code ph-launch-may26 for 30% off today (€6.30 instead of €9).
No comment highlights available yet. Please check back later!
About Throttle on Product Hunt
“ Cut Claude Code tokens by 70%, avoid limits”
Throttle was submitted on Product Hunt and earned 0 upvotes and 1 comments, placing #71 on the daily leaderboard. Free macOS menu-bar meter that shows your Claude Code 5-hour and weekly usage live. Pro tier (€9) cuts up to 70% off your session-start context.
Throttle was featured in Mac (103.5k followers), Productivity (653.9k followers) and Menu Bar Apps (12.2k followers) on Product Hunt. Together, these topics include over 150.8k products, making this a competitive space to launch in.
Who hunted Throttle?
Throttle was hunted by LorisLab. A “hunter” on Product Hunt is the community member who submits a product to the platform — uploading the images, the link, and tagging the makers behind it. Hunters typically write the first comment explaining why a product is worth attention, and their followers are notified the moment they post. Around 79% of featured launches on Product Hunt are self-hunted by their makers, but a well-known hunter still acts as a signal of quality to the rest of the community. See the full all-time top hunters leaderboard to discover who is shaping the Product Hunt ecosystem.
Want to see how Throttle stacked up against nearby launches in real time? Check out the live launch dashboard for upvote speed charts, proximity comparisons, and more analytics.
LorisLab