Token Ledger (SQLite)

Audit-grade token and cost ledger for OpenClaw. Use when you need to (1) record every model call’s usage (input/output/cache read/cache write/cost) into SQLite, (2) install/manage the ledger watcher LaunchAgent, (3) query ledger.db for daily usage/cost, fixed overhead, or historical billing reconciliation, or (4) generate low-token financial reports from SQL.

What this skill provides

• A SQLite ledger at ~/.openclaw/ledger.db with per-call usage rows.
• A watcher daemon that tails OpenClaw session JSONL files and writes usage into SQLite (near-real-time).
• Deterministic, low-token SQL-first finance reports (no JSONL rescans).

This skill is designed to be public/reusable: prefer stable paths, versioned pricing (price_versions table), and minimal assumptions.

Canonical usage definitions (do not mix these)

• input_tokens: uncached input tokens for the call (can be tiny)
• cache_write_tokens: tokens written to cache (can be huge)
• cache_read_tokens: tokens read from cache (can be huge)
• output_tokens: generated tokens
• total_context_tokens (effective prompt size) = input_tokens + cache_write_tokens + cache_read_tokens

Files & paths

• SQLite DB: ~/.openclaw/ledger.db
• Checkpoint: ~/.openclaw/ledger-checkpoint.json
• Sessions JSONL source: ~/.openclaw/agents/main/sessions/*.jsonl

Skill scripts:

• scripts/ledger_watcher.py — watcher daemon (supports --once)
• scripts/ledger_schema.sql — DDL
• scripts/com.openclaw.token-ledger-watcher.plist — LaunchAgent template

Standard operations (use exec)

1) One-shot backfill (safe)

bash

python3 ~/.openclaw/workspace/skills/token-ledger/scripts/ledger_watcher.py --once

2) Install / start daemon (macOS LaunchAgent)

This renders the plist with your local $HOME (no hard-coded username paths):

bash

python3 ~/.openclaw/workspace/skills/token-ledger/scripts/render_plist.py \
  > ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.openclaw.token-ledger-watcher.plist
launchctl load ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.openclaw.token-ledger-watcher.plist
launchctl list | rg token-ledger-watcher

3) Stop daemon

bash

launchctl unload ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.openclaw.token-ledger-watcher.plist

4) Quick sanity query

bash

sqlite3 ~/.openclaw/ledger.db \
  "select provider, model, count(*) calls, round(sum(cost_total),4) cost from calls where ts >= date('now') group by 1,2 order by cost desc limit 20;"

How to build low-token Finance reports

Preferred flow:

1. Run SQL queries directly against ledger.db.
2. Format results with a deterministic template (no long reasoning).
3. Only if numbers look anomalous: drill into calls for the specific session/model.

For daily reports, use:

• per-model totals
• cached vs uncached mix
• top sessions by cost
• cost_source breakdown (provider|calculated|local|unknown)

Notes / caveats

• Provider billing can still exceed ledger totals due to retries/timeouts/streaming interruptions. Ledger is auditable, not magical.
• Keep pricing versioned. Do not retroactively reprice historical calls unless explicitly requested.

Preset queries (safe)

bash

python3 ~/.openclaw/workspace/skills/token-ledger/scripts/ledger_query.py today
python3 ~/.openclaw/workspace/skills/token-ledger/scripts/ledger_query.py history --days 30
python3 ~/.openclaw/workspace/skills/token-ledger/scripts/ledger_query.py top-sessions --days 7 --limit 20

Deterministic daily report (no LLM)

bash

python3 ~/.openclaw/workspace/skills/token-ledger/scripts/ledger_report_daily.py