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Headroom Labs avatar

Headroom

Local compression layer that shrinks LLM context before it is sent

  • Agent frameworks and tools
  • AI coding agents
View on GitHub
Website

What it is

Headroom reduces the token count of tool outputs, logs, files, RAG chunks and chat history before they reach a language model, using separate compressors for JSON, source code and prose. It runs on your machine as a Python or TypeScript library, an OpenAI/Anthropic-compatible proxy, an MCP server, or a one-command wrapper around coding agents such as Claude Code, Codex and Cursor. Originals are cached locally so the model can retrieve full text when needed. Developers running coding agents or LLM apps use it to cut API costs and keep long sessions inside the context window.

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Facts

Stars
76,594 GitHub stars.
76,594

Forks
5,948
Commits
3,316
Contributors
332
Language
Python
License
Apache-2.0
Last commit
Oct 17, 2026
On GitHub since
January 2026
First release
January 2026
Platforms
macOS, Windows, Linux, CLI, library
Self-hostable
No
Tags
  • coding-agent
  • mcp-server
  • ai-memory
  • context-engineering
  • llm-gateway
  • rag

Last synced from GitHub on Oct 20, 2026

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What people are saying

Updated Oct 21, 2026
  • Bluesky“been using headroom ( for a while now and savings are modest #github #opensource #claudecode #codex #aitools”Jun 30, 2026 · 11 likes · 2 replies (opens Bluesky in a new tab)
  • Hacker NewsHeadroom - compress AI agent input for reduced token usage w/out harming outputJul 21, 2026 · 10 points · 2 comments (opens Hacker News in a new tab)
  • Hacker NewsHeadroom – The context compression layer for AI agentsJun 22, 2026 · 3 points · 0 comments (opens Hacker News in a new tab)
  • Bluesky“I've used the caveman tool to reduce that kind of output, and it's ok but more about the meme Recently started exploring this tool instead and it looks…”Jul 11, 2026 · 2 likes · 0 replies (opens Bluesky in a new tab)
  • Bluesky“5. Headroom compression tool reduces token usage by up to 95% LINK 6. DeepSeek Open-Sources DeepInfer High-Performance Inference Engine LINK”Oct 20, 2026 · 0 likes · 1 reply (opens Bluesky in a new tab)
  • Bluesky“Headroom: compresses everything your agent reads (tool outputs, logs, files), 100% locally, no API key. My real run: 47,712 chars down to 14,141, a 70% cut…”Sep 26, 2026 · 0 likes · 1 reply (opens Bluesky in a new tab)
  • Bluesky“- Headroom compresses everything your AI agent reads - tool outputs, logs, RAG chunks, files, and conversation history - before it reaches the LLM. Same…”Jul 21, 2026 · 1 like · 0 replies (opens Bluesky in a new tab)
  • Bluesky“Started using a compressor proxy on both input and output with codex, and I’m really enjoying the ~50% reduction in tokens I’ve burned through. Cool dashboard…”Jun 22, 2026 · 1 like · 0 replies (opens Bluesky in a new tab)
  • Bluesky“Headroom - compress AI agent input for reduced token usage w/out harming output Discussion”Jul 22, 2026 · 0 likes · 0 replies (opens Bluesky in a new tab)
  • Bluesky“Headroom - compress AI agent input for reduced token usage w/out harming output comments · posted on 2026.07.21 at 19:36:06 (c=0, p=3)”Jul 22, 2026 · 0 likes · 0 replies (opens Bluesky in a new tab)