Token Tamer — AI API Cost Control

Use this skill to track AI API costs, enforce spending budgets, and get optimization recommendations. Works with any provider: OpenAI, Anthropic, Gemini, Ollama, or custom.

When to Use This Skill

Invoke this skill when a user asks about:

• "How much am I spending on API calls?"
• Setting daily/weekly/monthly budget limits
• Getting a cost breakdown by model or provider
• Detecting wasteful API usage patterns
• Receiving an alert when spending approaches a budget limit

Setup

1. Copy config_example.py to token_config.py
2. Set your budget limits and model pricing
3. Configure your storage file path

# token_config.py
USAGE_FILE = "./token_usage.json"
BUDGETS = {
    'daily': 10.00,
    'weekly': 50.00,
    'monthly': 150.00,
}
ALERT_THRESHOLDS = {
    'warning': 80,   # alert at 80% of budget
    'critical': 95,  # alert at 95% of budget
}

Recording API Usage

Call this after every API request to track the cost:

import token_config as config
from token_tamer import TokenTamer

tamer = TokenTamer(config)

# Log a call — returns (cost, status)
cost, status = tamer.log_usage(
    provider='anthropic',
    model='claude-sonnet-4-5',
    input_tokens=1500,
    output_tokens=800,
    task='summarize',       # optional
    session='sess_001'      # optional
)

if status == 'KILL':
    raise Exception("Kill switch activated — daily budget exceeded")

Checking Budget Status

status = tamer.get_status()
# Returns: {
#   'daily':   { 'cost': 2.40, 'budget': 10.00, 'status': 'OK', 'message': None },
#   'weekly':  { 'cost': 8.10, 'budget': 50.00, 'status': 'OK', 'message': None },
#   'monthly': { 'cost': 8.10, 'budget': 150.00, 'status': 'OK', 'message': None },
#   'kill_switch': False
# }

if status['daily']['status'] == 'CRITICAL':
    print("Daily budget nearly exhausted — switch to cheaper model")

Pre-Call Budget Check

# Check before making an expensive call (returns True = OK, False = blocked)
if not tamer.check_before_call(estimated_cost=0.10):
    raise Exception("Kill switch active — API calls blocked")

Cost Reports

import token_config as config
from token_reports import ReportGenerator

reporter = ReportGenerator(config)

# Daily report
report = reporter.generate_daily_report()
reporter.print_report(report)

# Weekly report
report = reporter.generate_weekly_report()
reporter.print_report(report)

# Breakdown by provider
report = reporter.generate_by_provider_report()
reporter.print_report(report)

# Breakdown by model
report = reporter.generate_by_model_report()
reporter.print_report(report)

# Breakdown by task
report = reporter.generate_by_task_report()
reporter.print_report(report)

Waste Detection & Optimization

import token_config as config
from token_optimizer import WasteDetector, Optimizer

# Detect waste (last 7 days)
detector = WasteDetector(config)
waste = detector.detect_all(days=7)

# Get optimization recommendations
optimizer = Optimizer(config)
recommendations = optimizer.generate_recommendations(days=7)

CLI Usage

# Check current spend status
python token_tamer.py --status

# Log a call via CLI
python token_tamer.py --log --provider openai --model gpt-4o \
    --input-tokens 1500 --output-tokens 300 --task "code_generation"

# Check if API calls should proceed (exit code 0 = OK, 1 = blocked)
python token_tamer.py --check

# Generate daily report
python token_reports.py --daily

# Detect waste (last 7 days)
python token_optimizer.py --detect-waste --days 7

# Get optimization recommendations
python token_optimizer.py --recommendations --days 7

See README.md for full API reference, model pricing configuration, and advanced usage.