The open-source tool pxpipe converts long text inputs for Claude Code into compact PNGs to cut token costs.
The trick works because of how Anthropic prices images. Text costs roughly one token per character, but images cost a fixed number of tokens based on their pixel dimensions, no matter how much text they contain. Render dense content like code or JSON as an image, and you can pack about 3.1 characters into every image token.
pxpipe puts this into practice as a local proxy. It intercepts requests to Claude Code and renders the bulky, static parts as images, including system prompts, tool documentation, and older chat history. Recent messages and model outputs pass through as normal text. The image below shows what the model actually sees: Around 48,000 characters of system prompt and tool documentation get squeezed onto a single densely packed PNG page. As text, that would cost about 25,000 tokens. As an image, it's roughly 2,700.
This is how the model sees the compressed text: a single PNG page replaces thousands of text tokens. | Image: Steven Chong
According to developer Steven Chong, total savings average 59 to 70 percent. In one Fable 5 demo, session costs dropped from $42.21 to $6.06. If this somewhat exotic trick catches on, AI companies could respond by raising image processing prices.
