Thrifty Token Tree Tips

Now that I have become a Claude convert, I decided to learn about the models and usage so I don't end up torching cash like Amazon did. Granted, I would run out of cash much faster than Amazon, but still. Hitting usage limits is super annoying! Found this GREAT article with all kinds of tips like "Chat uses less tokens than Co-work" and when you are working on something, Claude will re-read everything all over again which uses more tokens so you can save tokens on a Co-work session just by using this prompt suggested by Ruben Hassid:

"At the end of a Cowork session, prompt “Write a session-notes.md with the key decisions and next steps.” Next session, start with “Read session-notes.md first.”

As so often happens with technology, some of the tips Ruben provided four months ago in April 2026 are already out-of-date due to changes made by Claude. Like, I tried to change the setting to "concise" but it's gone. Yes, I know it partly moved to "Customize->Skills" but "Concise" would need to be manually added.The next burning million-dollar, er...I mean million-token question is which model do I use for what? Ruben gives this advice:

"Grammar checks, brainstorming, reformatting, short answers. Sonnet handles all of this at a fraction of the cost.

Opus + Extended thinking is your heavy machinery. Don’t use heavy machinery to move a chair.

My rule: if the task takes Claude less than 30 seconds to answer, it probably doesn’t need Opus. Switch models before you start the session. It takes 2 clicks."

Remember, his post was written before Fable launched so put Fable under the "complex task" and "token-torching" category in your grey matter.

And speaking of token-torching, I tried out Ruben's tips for NOT uploading images to Claude and torching my tokens that way - I have figured out a way that I could obtain the info I needed for Claude -AND- save tokens in the process. The two apps I used for this were FamilySearch and

the "Notes" app that comes standard in my iPhone. I regularly use the Notes app for voice transcription because it's pretty good. To do this test run, I first opened my FamilySearch tree to Adam Weaver where I know I have saved several pages of a Weaver book in the sources section of Adam's profile. The book is almost 100 pages and as I recently hit that 100 page limit in another chat, I have been thinking about capturing the information in this book without hitting that limit. So here's how I accomplished that and the first test run did not even change my usage percentages! Woo-hoo! Open FamilySearch on your phone, find the image of a source you want to save, click the "copy" icon on the transcription (circled in red in the left screenshot), then paste that into a new note on your phone. Caveat, I was copying and pasting a typed transcription so FamilySearch's transcription had little to no errors. If you are copying transcribed handwriting, there will likely be a higher error rate. I copy and pasted three transcriptions into the Note and then clicked "Select All" in the Note and then pasted that into Claude. I included the prompt in this image and it put the pasted text above my prompt but it still worked like a charm. 

I also have a TON of books and other genealogical resources I have imaged with my phone. So I tried an experiment and searched for "Adam" in my photos, found a page from the same Weaver book, held my finger down on it and pressed down until "Select all" came up, Copy, and then
pasted into the Sonnet 5 chat. It updated with the additional information just fine but as Ruben

points out, it uses more tokens when Claude has to keep re-reading through previous chats. It does also work to just copy and paste the text into the iPhone note, which to reiterate, saves usage over just constantly updating the chat.

Anyhow, between Ruben's tips (I recommend reading his whole post) and my tweaks for genealogy, I hope this saves you some tokens. Don't forget to proof the work for accuracy.

Fable 5 has me over a barrel

I'm sure Anthropic will like the title of this post as that's exactly what they want! I am a ChatGPT subscriber and wasn't much of a Claude user until Fable 5. I heard the glowing reviews both on podcasts and in the Genealogy and Artificial Intelligence (AI) Facebook group which is what prompted me to try it. 

Before Fable 5, I had a hard time fathoming all the media articles predicting our impending doom from AI. The AI models that we mere mortals have had access to has been dumbed down for us non-Silicon Valley Titans. Until Fable 5. 

I started using Fable 5 after the second trial extension was announced, got halfway through a project, and ran out of credits. (!!!) Which of course, forced me over the barrel to subscribe. I have since learned how to check my usage which I regularly do on the iPhone app while uploading documents on the PC. Here's how to check usage on the phone app: Open Claude, click the three lines in the upper left corner, then click the circle that probably has your initials in the lower left corner, then click "Usage". I do this after each document I add or large task on Fable. I don't do this as much for Sonnet 5, which I change to when doing lighter tasks so as not to use up so many credits. Steve Little recommends Opus 5 and says it's almost as good as Fable 5.

So just what exactly have I've been using Fable 5 for? Document transcription for one. Best output I have seen from an LLM yet! I also use it for compiling biographies on ancestors and even triangulating where my ancestors lived by uploading deeds, land plats, and modern maps.

There are a few drawbacks you should know about besides burning through credits: unlike ChatGPT, Fable (aka Claude) does not reference previous chats. While ChatGPT gets to know you across all of your chats, Claude gets amnesia outside of the chat and you have to start all over again. And speaking of "starting all over again" the absolute worst limitation is the 100 images per chat! I was stunted by this while building a biographical genealogical masterpiece! Made me very grumpy and I left Anthropic some very terse feedback about that. The catch-22 about this is because AI bots have driven up server costs for so many websites, those sites have had to institute "are you human captchas?". So obviously, Claude cannot access a LOT of sites so that means you have to do the accessing and downloading, and then upload it to Claude. 

So far though, Fable 5 has been worth every red credit! For instance, I found an 18th century Westmoreland County, Virginia voters' poll using FamilySearch Full Text for the House of Burgesses. My ancestor, Adam Weaver, cast two votes and both were marked "Obj". Fable 5 explained that meant the opponent of whom he voted for objected to Adam voting because he wasn't a landowner. I don't know how long it would have taken me to learn that on my own if Fable 5 had not pointed it out. It took me two days of uploading documents for yesterday's 18-page biography; but can you imagine how long it would have taken before AI?