chore: remove personal infra details from docs

Replaced specific IPs, CT numbers, hostnames, and domains with generic examples suitable for public sharing. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-04-06 22:58:44 -04:00
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+# Why Use Shorthand with Claude?
+
+## The Problem
+
+Every token costs money and time. A typical conversational prompt uses 2-3x more tokens than necessary — articles, filler words, politeness markers, and redundant context that Claude already knows.
+
+## The Math
+
+| Style | Tokens/msg | 100 msgs/day | Monthly cost (Opus) |
+|-------|-----------|--------------|-------------------|
+| Conversational | ~80 | 8,000 | baseline |
+| Shorthand | ~25 | 2,500 | ~70% less |
+
+Output tokens cost 5x input on most Claude models — but shorter, denser prompts also produce shorter, denser responses. The savings compound.
+
+## What You're NOT Losing
+
+- **Accuracy** — Claude parses structured input *better* than prose. Ambiguity drops.
+- **Nuance** — Operators like `?` `:` `!` express conditionals and negation precisely.
+- **Context** — CLAUDE.md aliases (`pve173`, `tank`, `caddy`) carry full meaning in 1 token.
+
+## What You ARE Gaining
+
+- **Speed** — Less typing, faster responses, shorter round-trips
+- **Clarity** — Structured specs force you to think about what you actually want
+- **Cost** — 50-70% token reduction on input, cascading savings on output
+- **Signal density** — Every token carries meaning, nothing wasted
+
+## When to Use Full Prose
+
+- Teaching Claude something new (novel context it can't infer)
+- Complex reasoning where relationships between ideas matter
+- When you'd write prose to a human colleague too
+
+## The Mental Model
+
+Think of it like SQL vs. English:
+
+```
+-- English:
+"Could you please look at all the users in the database who signed
+up after January 1st and haven't logged in for 30 days, and give
+me their email addresses?"
+
+-- SQL:
+SELECT email FROM users WHERE created > '2025-01-01' AND last_login < NOW() - 30d
+```
+
+Both say the same thing. One is 40 tokens. The other is 15. Claude understands both equally well.
+
+Shorthand is your "SQL for Claude."