LLM Cost Tracker

Track, analyze, and optimize LLM API spending across providers (OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, DeepSeek, etc.). Use when the user asks about API costs, token usage, billing, budget alerts, cost optimization, or wants to monitor how much their OpenClaw agent is spending. Supports daily/weekly/monthly breakdowns, per-model cost analysis, budget threshold alerts, and cost reduction recommendations.

API Cost Tracker

Monitor and optimize your LLM API spending directly from your agent.

Quick Start

Run cost analysis:

bash

python3 scripts/cost_tracker.py --summary

Commands

Check Current Spend

bash

python3 scripts/cost_tracker.py --provider openai --period today
python3 scripts/cost_tracker.py --provider anthropic --period week
python3 scripts/cost_tracker.py --all --period month

Set Budget Alert

bash

python3 scripts/cost_tracker.py --set-budget 100 --period month --alert telegram

Cost Breakdown by Model

bash

python3 scripts/cost_tracker.py --breakdown model --period week

Optimization Recommendations

bash

python3 scripts/cost_tracker.py --optimize

This analyzes usage patterns and recommends:

• Model downgrades for simple tasks (e.g., use Haiku instead of Opus for classification)
• Caching opportunities (repeated similar prompts)
• Batch processing windows (off-peak pricing where available)
• Context window optimization (trim unnecessary context)

Supported Providers

Provider	Method	Setup
OpenAI	Usage API	OPENAI_API_KEY env var
Anthropic	Usage API	ANTHROPIC_API_KEY env var
Google AI	Billing API	GOOGLE_API_KEY env var
DeepSeek	Usage API	DEEPSEEK_API_KEY env var

Budget Alerts

Configure in ~/.openclaw/cost-tracker.json:

json

{
  "budgets": {
    "daily": 10,
    "weekly": 50,
    "monthly": 200
  },
  "alertChannels": ["telegram", "discord"],
  "alertThresholds": [50, 75, 90, 100]
}

Alerts fire at each threshold percentage. At 100%, optionally pause non-critical agent tasks.

Output Format

Reports generate as markdown tables suitable for any messaging surface:

text

Provider    | Model              | Tokens    | Cost
------------|--------------------|-----------|---------
Anthropic   | claude-opus-4-6   | 2.1M      | $63.00
Anthropic   | claude-sonnet-4-6 | 5.4M      | $16.20
OpenAI      | gpt-4o            | 1.8M      | $9.00
            | TOTAL              |           | $88.20

Advanced: Cost Optimization Patterns

See references/optimization-guide.md for detailed strategies on reducing API spend by 30-60% without sacrificing quality.