agent-cost-monitor

# Agent Cost Monitor — Know What Your Agents Cost Track token usage, costs, and efficiency across all your OpenClaw agents in real-time. Get alerts before you blow your budget. ## The Problem Running multiple agents is powerful — but expensive if you're not watching: - Which agent is burning the most tokens? - Are heartbeats wasting money on expensive models? - Is caching actually saving you anything? - When will you hit your weekly rate limit? ## What This Skill Does When triggered (via cron or manually), the agent: 1. Checks `session_status` for each agent 2. Calculates per-agent and total costs 3. Compares against budget thresholds 4. Sends alerts if limits are approaching 5. Suggests optimization moves ## Usage Ask your monitoring agent (or any agent with this skill): ``` "Give me a cost report for all agents" "Which agent used the most tokens today?" "Am I going to hit my rate limit this week?" ``` ### Automated Daily Report (Cron) ```json5 { "name": "Daily Cost Report", "schedule": { "kind": "cron", "expr": "0 20 * * *", "tz": "Europe/Berlin" }, "payload": { "kind": "agentTurn", "message": "Run a cost report across all agents. Check session_status for each. Report: total tokens, cost per agent, top spender, budget warnings. Send summary to user." }, "sessionTarget": "isolated", "delivery": { "mode": "announce" } } ``` ## Cost Report Format When generating a report, use this structure: ```markdown ## 💰 Agent Cost Report — [Date] ### Per-Agent Breakdown | Agent | Model | Tokens (24h) | Est. Cost | Status | |-------|-------|-------------|-----------|--------| | Central | Opus 4.6 | 125K | $1.87 | ⚠️ High | | Techops | Opus 4.6 | 89K | $1.33 | ✅ Normal | | Atlas | Sonnet 4.5 | 45K | $0.27 | ✅ Low | | Closer | Haiku 4.5 | 23K | $0.02 | ✅ Minimal | | Heartbeats | Ollama | 12K | $0.00 | ✅ Free | ### Summary - **Total 24h:** 294K tokens (~$3.49) - **Projected weekly:** ~$24.43 - **Budget:** $20/week → ⚠️ 122% projected ### Recommendations 1. Move Techops from Opus → Sonnet for routine tasks (-40% cost) 2. Increase heartbeat interval from 15m → 30m 3. Enable context pruning on Atlas (idle sessions burning cache) ``` ## Model Cost Reference Use these rates for estimation (as of 2026): ### Anthropic (Claude OAuth / API) | Model | Input/1M | Output/1M | Cache Read/1M | Cache Write/1M | |-------|----------|-----------|---------------|----------------| | Opus 4.6 | $5.00 | $25.00 | $0.50 | $6.25 | | Sonnet 4.5 | $3.00 | $15.00 | $0.30 | $3.75 | | Haiku 4.5 | $1.00 | $5.00 | $0.08 | $1.25 | ### Free Options | Model | Cost | Use For | |-------|------|---------| | Ollama (local) | $0 | Heartbeats, simple tasks | | Gemini OAuth | $0* | Fallback (rate limited) | *Free tier with rate limits ## Optimization Playbook ### Quick Wins (Do These First) 1. **Heartbeats on Ollama** ```json5 { "heartbeat": { "model": "ollama/llama3.2:3b" } } ``` Saves: 100% of heartbeat costs (can be $5-10/week with Opus) 2. **Haiku Cache Retention Off** ```json5 { "anthropic/claude-haiku-4-5": { "params": { "cacheRetention": "none" } } } ``` Saves: Cache write costs on cheap model (not worth caching) 3. **Context Pruning** ```json5 { "contextPruning": { "mode": "cache-ttl", "ttl": "5m" } } ``` Saves: Stale context re-reads on every turn 4. **Opus/Sonnet Cache Retention Long** ```json5 { "anthropic/claude-opus-4-6": { "params": { "cacheRetention": "long" } } } ``` Saves: Re-sending system prompt every turn (biggest single saving) ### Model Tiering (Biggest Impact) | Task Type | Use This | Not This | Saving | |-----------|----------|----------|--------| | Coordination, complex reasoning | Opus | — | Justified | | Finance, data analysis | Sonnet | Opus | -40% | | Sales drafts, marketing copy | Haiku | Sonnet | -67% | | Heartbeats, health checks | Ollama | Any paid | -100% | | Tweet drafts | Haiku or Grok | Opus | -80% | ### Session Management - **Daily reset**: Sessions auto-clear at a set hour (reduces token accumulation) ```json5 { "session": { "reset": { "mode": "daily", "atHour": 4, "idleMinutes": 45 } } } ``` - **Memory flush**: Save important context before compaction ```json5 { "compaction": { "memoryFlush": { "enabled": true } } } ``` ## Alert Thresholds Configure in your monitoring agent's memory: ```markdown ## Budget Alerts - Daily budget: $5.00 (warn at 80% = $4.00) - Weekly budget: $20.00 (warn at 70% = $14.00) - Per-agent daily max: $2.00 - Alert channel: Telegram DM ``` ## Integration with DevOps Agent If you have a DevOps/monitoring agent (e.g. your DevOps agent), add to its AGENTS.md: ```markdown ## Cost Monitoring - Run daily cost report at 20:00 - Alert if any agent exceeds $2/day - Weekly summary every Monday 09:00 - Track trends: is usage going up or down? ``` ## FAQ **Q: Does this skill make API calls?** A: No. It uses OpenClaw's built-in `session_status` tool. No external APIs, no additional costs. **Q: How accurate are cost estimates?** A: Based on published model pricing. Actual costs may vary with caching hits. Estimates are conservative (slightly high). **Q: Can I track costs per conversation?** A: Not directly. Costs are tracked per session. Use `sessions_list` to see per-session token counts. **Q: Works with non-Anthropic models?** A: Yes. Token counts work for all providers. Cost estimation requires known pricing (add custom rates in the cost reference section). ## Changelog ### v1.1.0 - Generalized all agent names in examples - No specific setup references ### v1.0.0 - Initial release