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The AgentDrive MCP server costs 2,482 tokens before the first call.

Connect AgentDrive and its 20 tool definitions are loaded into the model's context on every request — 1.2% of a 200k window spent before your agent does anything.

QUICK ANSWER The AgentDrive MCP server's tool definitions consume 2,482 tokens — around the median MCP server (1,905 tokens). A scoped grant exposing only the tools you use cuts that roughly in proportion.

MEASURED FROM SCHEMAS 20 tools · 2,482 tokens · 1.2% of 200k · 0.2% of 1M Method →

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 1.2%
1M WINDOW 0.2%

Corpus context: AgentDrive ranks #1422 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.

Where the 2,482 tokens go.

Each row is one tool definition as a tools/list entry — name, description and input schema — counted with o200k_base. Average: 124 tokens per tool.

ToolCategoryTokens% of server
drive_log_run Execute 240 9.7%
drive_search Read 204 8.2%
drive_share Write 194 7.8%
drive_sandbox_exec Execute 180 7.3%
drive_context Execute 172 6.9%
drive_sandbox_clone Read 167 6.7%
drive_sandbox_commit Write 157 6.3%
drive_roles Destructive 143 5.8%
drive_recall Read 136 5.5%
drive_write Write 116 4.7%
drive_comment Write 115 4.6%
drive_sandbox_read Read 113 4.6%
drive_invite Write 98 3.9%
drive_feedback Read 78 3.1%
drive_list Read 74 3.0%
drive_read Read 68 2.7%
drive_versions Read 67 2.7%
drive_delete Destructive 66 2.7%
drive_activity Read 56 2.3%
drive_org Read 38 1.5%

Most agents use a handful of these tools. They pay for all 20.

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 (124 tokens each).

Grant scopeDefinition costReduction
All 20 tools (no gateway) 2,482 tokens
3 granted tools ~372 tokens −85%
5 granted tools ~621 tokens −75%
10 granted tools ~1,241 tokens −50%

AgentDrive token-cost questions.

How many tokens does the AgentDrive MCP server use?+

Its 20 tool definitions total 2,482 tokens — 1.2% 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 AgentDrive 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 AgentDrive's token usage?+

Expose fewer tools. A PolicyLayer grant scopes AgentDrive 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 372 tokens, a 85% 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.

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 20 catalogued AgentDrive tools. Counts refresh with every site build.

Expose only the tools you use — the rest never enter your context.

A PolicyLayer grant scopes AgentDrive to the tools you actually allow. Ungranted definitions never load, and every call that does run is checked against policy first.

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