Cost Tracking Framework

When This Activates

This skill activates when:

• User asks about API costs or spending

• Concerns about expensive operations

• Need to optimize token usage

Token Cost Reference

Claude Pricing (Approximate)

Model Input (per 1M tokens) Output (per 1M tokens)

Opus ~$15 ~$75

Sonnet ~$3 ~$15

Haiku ~$0.25 ~$1.25

Typical Operation Costs

Operation Tokens Approximate Cost

Simple question 500-2K $0.01-0.05

File read + analysis 2-10K $0.05-0.25

Code generation 5-20K $0.15-0.50

Multi-file refactor 20-100K $0.50-2.50

Long conversation 50-200K $1.00-5.00

Cost Optimization Strategies

1. Route to Local LLM (FREE)

Use local_ask for simple tasks:

FREE - no API cost

local_ask question="where is the login function?" local_ask question="explain this error" mode=explain local_review file="src/auth.ts" focus=bugs

Good for local:

• Simple lookups ("where is X?")

• Code explanations

• Commit message generation

• Quick code reviews

2. Use Memory Tools First

Pre-indexed memory is instant and free:

Instant, no API cost

memory_query "authentication flow" memory_functions name="handleLogin" smart_read path="src/auth.ts" detail=summary

3. Reduce Context Size

• Use smart_read with detail=summary before detail=full

• Truncate large files to relevant sections

• Clear conversation when changing topics

4. Batch Related Questions

Instead of 5 separate messages, combine:

"Can you: 1) explain the auth flow, 2) find the login component, 3) check for security issues, and 4) suggest improvements?"

Gateway Metrics

Check current efficiency:

gateway_metrics format=summary

Returns:

• Cache hit rate

• Token savings

• Routing breakdown (local vs API)

Cost Estimation

Before expensive operations:

This refactor will touch ~20 files. Estimated cost: $0.50-1.00 Proceed? [Y/n]

Budget Awareness

Daily Patterns

• Morning: Fresh context, lower cost

• Long sessions: Context grows, higher cost

• After compaction: Reset context, lower cost

High-Cost Triggers

• "Analyze entire codebase"

• "Review all files in directory"

• "Generate comprehensive documentation"

• Very long conversations (>50 turns)

Saving Tips

• Start fresh for new topics - Don't carry irrelevant context

• Use subagents - They have focused context

• Check memory first - Summaries save full file reads

• Compress transcripts - Archived sessions are compressed

• Local for simple tasks - Ollama is free

Monitoring Commands

Check gateway efficiency

python3 ~/.claude-dash/learning/efficiency_tracker.py --report

View session sizes

du -sh ~/.claude-dash/sessions/*