LLM Cost Guard — Token Budget & Spend Monitor
Track, budget, and alert on LLM API spending in real-time. Prevents runaway costs for AI agents, multi-user apps, and homelab automation.
What It Does
- Real-time cost tracking — records every LLM call (tokens in/out, model, cost)
- Budget enforcement — blocks requests when daily/monthly budgets are exceeded
- Per-user quotas — free tier vs pro tier controls
- Daily spend reports — delivered via WhatsApp/Telegram/Discord
- Alerts — warns at 80% budget usage, blocks at 100%
- Multi-model pricing — OpenAI, Anthropic, Groq, Ollama (Feb 2026 rates)
Quick Start
After install, configure your daily budget:
set budget daily 5.00
Then register API calls via the tracker:
# Log an LLM call
llm-cost-guard log --model gpt-4o --input-tokens 1500 --output-tokens 800 --user alice
# Check current spend
llm-cost-guard status
# View full report
llm-cost-guard report
Commands
| Command | Description |
|---|---|
llm-cost-guard status | Current spend vs budget |
llm-cost-guard report | Full breakdown by user/model/day |
llm-cost-guard set-limit daily <USD> | Set daily spend limit |
llm-cost-guard set-limit user <key> <USD> | Set per-user limit |
llm-cost-guard reset | Reset counters (e.g., start of new period) |
llm-cost-guard watch | Live tail of all LLM calls |
llm-cost-guard log | Record a manual LLM usage entry |
Configuration
{
"dailyCostLimit": 5.00,
"monthlyCostLimit": 50.00,
"perUserDailyCostLimit": 1.00,
"defaultModel": "gpt-4o-mini",
"alertAt": 0.8,
"alertChannel": "whatsapp",
"dataPath": "~/.openclaw/workspace/llm-cost-guard-data.json"
}
Supported Models (Built-in Pricing)
| Provider | Models |
|---|---|
| OpenAI | gpt-4o, gpt-4o-mini, gpt-4-turbo, gpt-3.5-turbo, o1, o1-mini, o3-mini |
| Anthropic | claude-3-5-sonnet, claude-3-5-haiku, claude-3-opus, claude-sonnet-4, claude-haiku-4 |
| Groq | llama-3.3-70b, llama-3.1-8b, mixtral-8x7b, gemma2-9b |
| Ollama | Local models (free, $0 tracked) |
OpenClaw Cron Integration
The skill auto-installs a daily cron job to:
- Send a morning spend summary
- Alert if yesterday's spend exceeded budget
- Reset daily counters at midnight UTC
# Manually add cron
openclaw cron add "0 8 * * *" "llm-cost-guard report --send-to whatsapp"
Use Cases
Homelab AI Automation
You run multiple OpenClaw agents with different API budgets. This skill tracks each agent's spend independently and warns you before the bill arrives.
Multi-User Chatbot
Users get a free daily quota (e.g., $0.50/day). This skill enforces it, returning a friendly 429 when exceeded.
Cost Audit
Run llm-cost-guard report --period month to see your full monthly AI spend breakdown by model and user.
Data Storage
All data stored locally at ~/.openclaw/workspace/llm-cost-guard-data.json. No external services. No telemetry.
Why Zero Dependencies?
Every dependency is a potential VirusTotal flag, a supply chain risk, and a maintenance burden. This skill uses only Node.js stdlib and OpenClaw's built-in tools.