// MCP TOKEN COST

The Arcane MCP server costs 17,401 tokens before the first call.

Connect Arcane and its 180 tool definitions are loaded into the model's context on every request — 8.7% of a 200k window spent before your agent does anything.

QUICK ANSWER The Arcane MCP server's tool definitions consume 17,401 tokens — 9.1× the median MCP server (1,905 tokens). A scoped grant exposing only the tools you use cuts that roughly in proportion.

MEASURED FROM SCHEMAS 180 tools · 17,401 tokens · 8.7% of 200k · 1.7% of 1M Method →

// CONTEXT WINDOW SHARE

What that buys before your agent starts working.

Tool definitions are overhead: they occupy context on every request and compete with your code, documents and conversation history for the same window.

200K WINDOW 8.7%

1M WINDOW 1.7%

Corpus context: Arcane ranks #66 of 3,213 measured MCP servers by definition cost. The median is 1,905 tokens, p90 is 7,952, and the heaviest (Fusionauth) is 183,337 — 92% of a 200k window on its own.

// PER-TOOL BREAKDOWN

Where the 17,401 tokens go.

Each row is one tool definition as a tools/list entry — name, description and input schema — counted with o200k_base. Average: 97 tokens per tool.

Tool	Category	Tokens	% of server
arcane_container_create	Write	325	1.9%
arcane_swarm_create_service	Write	252	1.4%
arcane_registry_create	Write	216	1.2%
arcane_network_create	Write	209	1.2%
arcane_gitops_create	Write	199	1.1%
arcane_vulnerability_list	Read	189	1.1%
arcane_build_image	Execute	186	1.1%
arcane_container_list	Read	173	1.0%
arcane_gitops_update	Write	171	1.0%
arcane_git_repo_create	Write	165	0.9%
arcane_notification_update_settings	Write	162	0.9%
arcane_swarm_list_services	Read	157	0.9%
arcane_port_list	Read	156	0.9%
arcane_vulnerability_list_all	Read	156	0.9%
arcane_project_list	Read	154	0.9%
arcane_image_pull	Read	153	0.9%
arcane_swarm_join_cluster	Read	153	0.9%
arcane_swarm_update_service	Write	152	0.9%
arcane_image_list	Read	151	0.9%
arcane_network_list	Read	151	0.9%
arcane_volume_list	Read	151	0.9%
arcane_build_list	Execute	143	0.8%
arcane_container_delete	Destructive	142	0.8%
arcane_project_create	Write	141	0.8%
arcane_job_schedule_update	Write	140	0.8%
arcane_volume_create	Write	138	0.8%
arcane_environment_list	Read	134	0.8%
arcane_swarm_init_cluster	Read	133	0.8%
arcane_event_create	Write	133	0.8%
arcane_system_prune	Destructive	132	0.8%
arcane_vulnerability_ignore	Read	132	0.8%
arcane_image_delete	Destructive	131	0.8%
arcane_webhook_update	Write	129	0.7%
arcane_swarm_get_service_logs	Read	123	0.7%
arcane_webhook_create	Write	121	0.7%
arcane_project_destroy	Destructive	119	0.7%
arcane_volume_delete	Destructive	119	0.7%
arcane_volume_backup_list_files	Read	118	0.7%
arcane_event_list	Read	114	0.7%
arcane_event_list_by_environment	Read	114	0.7%
arcane_template_update	Write	113	0.6%
arcane_project_update	Write	112	0.6%
arcane_registry_update	Write	112	0.6%
arcane_container_set_auto_update	Write	111	0.6%
arcane_gitops_list	Read	110	0.6%
arcane_user_create	Write	109	0.6%
arcane_volume_backup_restore	Write	109	0.6%
arcane_swarm_scale_service	Execute	108	0.6%
arcane_volume_backup_delete	Destructive	104	0.6%
arcane_environment_create	Write	104	0.6%
arcane_template_list	Read	103	0.6%
arcane_volume_browse_content	Read	103	0.6%
arcane_image_prune	Destructive	102	0.6%
arcane_project_redeploy	Read	102	0.6%
arcane_volume_browse	Read	102	0.6%
arcane_volume_browse_mkdir	Read	102	0.6%
arcane_vulnerability_get_scan_summaries	Read	102	0.6%
arcane_vulnerability_unignore	Read	102	0.6%
arcane_image_update_check	Write	102	0.6%
arcane_notification_apprise_update	Write	102	0.6%
arcane_template_create	Write	102	0.6%
arcane_build_workspace_upload	Execute	100	0.6%
arcane_swarm_leave_cluster	Read	100	0.6%
arcane_auth_change_password	Read	99	0.6%
arcane_container_update	Write	99	0.6%
arcane_project_down	Destructive	98	0.6%
arcane_project_up	Execute	98	0.6%
arcane_apikey_create	Write	97	0.6%
arcane_environment_pair_agent	Read	96	0.6%
arcane_git_repo_browse_files	Read	96	0.6%
arcane_image_update_check_multiple	Write	96	0.6%
arcane_user_update	Write	96	0.6%
arcane_updater_run	Execute	95	0.5%
arcane_environment_update	Write	95	0.5%
arcane_network_delete	Destructive	94	0.5%
arcane_container_redeploy	Read	93	0.5%
arcane_gitops_sync	Execute	92	0.5%
arcane_container_get_counts	Read	92	0.5%
arcane_swarm_delete_service	Destructive	91	0.5%
arcane_updater_get_history	Read	91	0.5%
arcane_user_list	Read	91	0.5%
arcane_git_repo_list	Read	90	0.5%
arcane_registry_list	Read	90	0.5%
arcane_gitops_get_status	Read	89	0.5%
arcane_build_workspace_get_content	Execute	88	0.5%
arcane_image_check_update	Read	88	0.5%
arcane_image_update_check_by_id	Write	88	0.5%
arcane_updater_update_container	Write	88	0.5%
arcane_environment_delete	Destructive	87	0.5%
arcane_build_workspace_browse	Execute	87	0.5%
arcane_swarm_get_service	Read	87	0.5%
arcane_vulnerability_get_scan_result	Read	87	0.5%
arcane_vulnerability_scan_image	Read	87	0.5%
arcane_settings_update	Write	87	0.5%
arcane_gitops_get	Read	86	0.5%
arcane_vulnerability_get_scan_summary	Read	86	0.5%
arcane_build_get	Execute	85	0.5%
arcane_auth_login	Write	85	0.5%
arcane_volume_backup_create	Write	85	0.5%
arcane_gitops_delete	Destructive	84	0.5%
arcane_container_get	Read	84	0.5%
arcane_git_repo_test	Read	84	0.5%
arcane_image_get	Read	84	0.5%
arcane_network_get	Read	84	0.5%
arcane_project_pull_images	Read	84	0.5%
arcane_container_start	Execute	83	0.5%
arcane_container_stop	Execute	83	0.5%
arcane_project_restart	Execute	83	0.5%
arcane_project_get	Read	83	0.5%
arcane_webhook_delete	Destructive	82	0.5%
arcane_container_restart	Execute	82	0.5%
arcane_project_build	Execute	82	0.5%
arcane_volume_backup_list	Read	82	0.5%
arcane_volume_get	Read	82	0.5%
arcane_job_run	Execute	81	0.5%
arcane_apikey_list	Read	81	0.5%
arcane_dashboard_get	Read	81	0.5%
arcane_volume_prune	Destructive	80	0.5%
arcane_notification_test	Read	80	0.5%
arcane_dashboard_get_action_items	Read	78	0.4%
arcane_network_prune	Destructive	75	0.4%
arcane_template_update_variables	Write	75	0.4%
arcane_system_containers_stop_all	Execute	74	0.4%
arcane_environment_get_deployment_snippets	Read	74	0.4%
arcane_network_get_topology	Read	74	0.4%
arcane_apikey_delete	Destructive	73	0.4%
arcane_vulnerability_get_scanner_status	Read	72	0.4%
arcane_user_delete	Destructive	71	0.4%
arcane_system_containers_start_stopped	Execute	71	0.4%
arcane_image_get_update_summary	Read	71	0.4%
arcane_swarm_get_cluster_info	Read	71	0.4%
arcane_vulnerability_get_environment_summary	Read	71	0.4%
arcane_image_update_get_summary	Write	71	0.4%
arcane_environment_get_version	Read	70	0.4%
arcane_image_check_updates_all	Read	70	0.4%
arcane_system_upgrade	Read	70	0.4%
arcane_updater_get_status	Read	70	0.4%
arcane_image_update_check_all	Write	70	0.4%
arcane_system_containers_start_all	Execute	69	0.4%
arcane_auth_refresh	Read	69	0.4%
arcane_environment_get_docker_info	Read	69	0.4%
arcane_image_get_counts	Read	69	0.4%
arcane_system_get_docker_info	Read	69	0.4%
arcane_template_get_content	Read	69	0.4%
arcane_vulnerability_list_ignored	Read	69	0.4%
arcane_git_repo_get_branches	Read	68	0.4%
arcane_notification_apprise_test	Read	68	0.4%
arcane_system_check_upgrade	Read	68	0.4%
arcane_vulnerability_get_image_options	Read	68	0.4%
arcane_event_delete	Destructive	67	0.4%
arcane_environment_test	Read	67	0.4%
arcane_project_get_counts	Read	67	0.4%
arcane_webhook_list	Read	67	0.4%
arcane_environment_get	Read	66	0.4%
arcane_network_get_counts	Read	66	0.4%
arcane_notification_apprise_get	Read	66	0.4%
arcane_notification_get_settings	Read	66	0.4%
arcane_template_get	Read	66	0.4%
arcane_volume_get_counts	Read	66	0.4%
arcane_job_schedule_get	Write	66	0.4%
arcane_git_repo_delete	Destructive	65	0.4%
arcane_job_list	Read	65	0.4%
arcane_registry_get	Read	65	0.4%
arcane_registry_test	Read	65	0.4%
arcane_user_get	Read	65	0.4%
arcane_registry_delete	Destructive	64	0.4%
arcane_template_delete	Destructive	64	0.4%
arcane_settings_get	Read	62	0.4%
arcane_settings_search	Read	62	0.4%
arcane_system_get_health	Read	48	0.3%
arcane_version_get	Read	45	0.3%
arcane_oidc_device_code	Read	43	0.2%
arcane_oidc_get_status	Read	38	0.2%
arcane_auth_logout	Read	32	0.2%
arcane_registry_sync	Read	32	0.2%
arcane_settings_get_public	Read	32	0.2%
arcane_oidc_get_config	Read	31	0.2%
arcane_auth_me	Read	30	0.2%
arcane_settings_get_categories	Read	28	0.2%
arcane_template_get_variables	Read	28	0.2%

// SCOPED GRANT

Most agents use a handful of these tools. They pay for all 180.

A PolicyLayer grant exposes only the tools you allow — ungranted definitions are filtered out of the tool list, so they never enter the context window. Estimates below assume typical-weight tools (97 tokens each).

Grant scope	Definition cost	Reduction
All 180 tools (no gateway)	17,401 tokens	—
3 granted tools	~290 tokens	−98%
5 granted tools	~483 tokens	−97%
10 granted tools	~967 tokens	−94%

Model your own stack in the token-cost calculator, or see the Arcane policy for what a sensible grant looks like.

//FAQ

Arcane token-cost questions.

How many tokens does the Arcane MCP server use?+

Its 180 tool definitions total 17,401 tokens — 8.7% of a 200k context window — measured with tiktoken o200k_base over the serialised tools/list payload. Exact counts vary slightly by client and model.

Why does Arcane consume tokens before I send a message?+

MCP clients load every connected server's tool definitions — name, description, and input schema — into the model's context so it knows what it can call. That payload is charged against your context window on every request, whether or not a tool is used.

How do I reduce Arcane's token usage?+

Expose fewer tools. A PolicyLayer grant scopes Arcane to only the tools you allow — ungranted definitions are filtered out of the tool list, so they never enter the context window. A grant of 3 typical tools costs roughly 290 tokens, a 98% reduction.

Does deferred tool loading fix this?+

Partially, in some clients. Claude Code defers MCP tool schemas behind a tool-search step by default, and VS Code has experimental grouping — but you still pay tokens per search and reload, and Cursor, Windsurf and Gemini CLI load definitions upfront. Reducing the exposed tool set cuts the cost in every client.

// METHOD & REVIEW

How these numbers were measured.

01

Serialisation

Each tool is serialised as a tools/list entry — name, description, input schema — from the schemas in the PolicyLayer scan database. Clients differ slightly in framing, so treat counts as close estimates.

02

Tokeniser

tiktoken o200k_base (GPT-4o/o-series). Anthropic's current tokeniser isn't published, so Claude's exact counts will differ; for English text and JSON schemas the totals are close enough to treat these as estimates.

03

Deferred loading

Some clients now defer schema loading (Claude Code's tool search; VS Code experimental grouping). You still pay per search and reload — and Cursor, Windsurf and Gemini CLI load everything upfront.

Computed 07-06-2026 from the PolicyLayer scan database over all 180 catalogued Arcane tools. Counts refresh with every site build.