# tilth

9 Hacker News commenters recommended tilth and 1 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 6 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** Recommended as a simple, daemon-free code navigation tool for AI agents that cuts token use by about 40% in benchmarks. Main caveat: agents may do worse with niche tools.

## Why people recommend it

- Cuts token use and cost (5 comments): "my agent has been able to use them very effectively and I've seen context usage drop considerably" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48198830)) "now agents find things faster and with ~40% less token use (benchmarked)" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47643210)) "benchmarked to reduce cost per correct answer by ~40%" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48591960))
- Faster, more accurate answers (2 comments): "in the benchmarks, I'm seeing very positive results with Haiku, getting quicker and more correct answers" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47325777)) "That's already better than RTK because you measure task accuracy AND savings!" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48596000))
- Preferred over alternative tools (3 comments): "That's already better than RTK because you measure task accuracy AND savings!" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48596000)) "Very cool. I'll probably switch away from AFT to this." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48594642)) "On the surface, I like your approach a bit better." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48593314))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [ripgrep](https://hackerapproved.com/p/ripgrep.md): 122 recommend
- [ast-grep](https://hackerapproved.com/p/ast-grep.md): 21 recommend
- [Semble](https://hackerapproved.com/p/semble.md): 20 recommend
- [Graft (Claude Code hooks)](https://hackerapproved.com/p/graft.md): 13 recommend
- [Lat.md](https://hackerapproved.com/p/lat-md.md): 11 recommend

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "tilth", https://hackerapproved.com/p/tilth/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).