Output quality is important when working with AI coding agents, but true efficiency comes from getting work done quickly, efficiently, and with the right context.
That’s why token count of individual interactions alone isn’t a meaningful measure of efficiency. The goal shouldn’t be to use fewer tokens, but to tap into the right amount of context to move a task forward. A concise tool response can sometimes require additional calls or work if it leaves out information the agent needs, ultimately making the task slower and more expensive.
That’s why we want to optimize for the outcome rather than the tool call. This post examines four changes in GitHub Copilot that put that principle into practice:
Preserve useful context while reducing repetitive output.
Remove formatting that adds no value to the task.
