When a coding agent edits one file, dumping that file plus every import in full wastes tokens on implementations the model never reads. Tier the context by distance in the dependency graph: full body for the target, typed stubs for direct deps, bare signatures for transitive deps.
Tier Code Context by Dependency Distance: Full Body, Then Stubs, Then Signatures
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More in Coding Assistants
💻Coding Assistants
Often cuts output tokens 40-70% on edits to large files, varies by file size
Ask for the Patch, Not the Whole File
When editing an existing file, tell the assistant to return only the changed lines as a diff or snippet instead of regenerating the entire file.
💻Coding Assistants
often 30-60% on long sessions
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10-30% on context-heavy chats
Add a .cursorignore So Cursor Stops Indexing Your node_modules
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