AI Economic Tracker

Track AI agents' daily finances, classify survival status, estimate service value, and recommend work or learn tasks based on economic runway.

Track daily costs, income, and net worth for AI agents. Implements economic pressure-driven decision making: "work or learn" based on financial runway.

Inspired by HKUDS/ClawWork research on economic incentives for AI agents.

Features

• Balance Tracking: Monitor current balance, total income, and total costs
• Survival Status: Automatic status classification (thriving/stable/struggling/critical/bankrupt)
• Runway Calculation: Days remaining before funds run out
• Service Valuation: Estimate task value using BLS wage data
• Work/Learn Decision: Economic pressure-driven task prioritization
• Daily Reports: Formatted economic status reports
• JSONL Logs: Append-only transaction history

Use Cases

1. Agent Cost Management: Track API costs, compute resources, and operational expenses
2. Revenue Tracking: Log income from completed tasks or services
3. Economic Decision Making: Decide whether to work (earn) or learn (invest) based on financial status
4. Service Pricing: Estimate fair pricing using US Bureau of Labor Statistics wage data
5. Financial Monitoring: Daily/weekly economic health checks

Installation

clawhub install ai-economic-tracker

Usage

Command Line

# View current status
python3 ~/.openclaw/workspace/skills/ai-economic-tracker/tracker.py status

# Daily report
python3 ~/.openclaw/workspace/skills/ai-economic-tracker/tracker.py report

# Initialize balance
python3 ~/.openclaw/workspace/skills/ai-economic-tracker/tracker.py init 1000.0

# Record income
python3 ~/.openclaw/workspace/skills/ai-economic-tracker/tracker.py income 50.0 "task_completion" "Completed data analysis"

# Record cost
python3 ~/.openclaw/workspace/skills/ai-economic-tracker/tracker.py cost 15.0 "api_usage" "OpenAI API calls"

# Estimate service value
python3 ~/.openclaw/workspace/skills/ai-economic-tracker/tracker.py estimate software_developer 2.5

# Get work/learn decision
python3 ~/.openclaw/workspace/skills/ai-economic-tracker/tracker.py decide

From OpenClaw Agent

# In your agent workflow
exec("python3 ~/.openclaw/workspace/skills/ai-economic-tracker/tracker.py report")

Cron Integration

Add to your OpenClaw cron for daily monitoring:

openclaw cron add "0 9 * * *" "python3 ~/.openclaw/workspace/skills/ai-economic-tracker/tracker.py report" --label "daily-economic-report"

Configuration

Set environment variables to customize:

# Data directory (default: ~/.openclaw/workspace/data/economics)
export ECONOMIC_TRACKER_DATA_DIR="/custom/path/to/data"

# Daily costs (default values shown)
export ECONOMIC_TRACKER_ELECTRICITY_DAILY=0.50
export ECONOMIC_TRACKER_INTERNET_DAILY=1.50

# Survival thresholds (default values shown)
export ECONOMIC_TRACKER_THRIVING=5000
export ECONOMIC_TRACKER_STABLE=1500
export ECONOMIC_TRACKER_STRUGGLING=500
export ECONOMIC_TRACKER_CRITICAL=0

Data Storage

All data stored in JSONL format (append-only):

• balance.jsonl: Balance snapshots with timestamps
• daily_log.jsonl: Cost transactions
• income_log.jsonl: Income transactions

Default location: ~/.openclaw/workspace/data/economics/

Status Levels

Status	Balance Range	Meaning
🟢 Thriving	> $5,000	Healthy runway, can invest in learning
🔵 Stable	$1,500 - $5,000	Comfortable, balanced work/learn
🟡 Struggling	$500 - $1,500	Low runway, prioritize income
🔴 Critical	$0 - $500	Emergency mode, work only
💀 Bankrupt	< $0	Out of funds

BLS Wage Reference

Built-in hourly wage data for service valuation:

• Computer Systems Manager: $90.38/hr
• Financial Manager: $86.76/hr
• Software Developer: $69.50/hr
• Financial Analyst: $47.16/hr
• Market Research: $38.71/hr
• Data Analyst: $52.00/hr
• General Operations: $64.00/hr
• Customer Service: $22.00/hr

Work/Learn Decision Logic

The tracker implements economic pressure-driven decision making:

• Critical/Struggling (< $1,500): Must work to earn money
• Stable ($1,500 - $5,000): 70% work, 30% learn
• Thriving (> $5,000): 50% work, 50% learn

Use decide command to get recommendation based on current balance.

Example Output

📊 经济日报 | 2026-02-26
========================================
💰 余额: $1,234.56
📈 总收入: $2,500.00
📉 总支出: $1,265.44
💵 净利润: $1,234.56
🔥 日消耗: $2.00
⏳ 跑道: 617 天
🔵 状态: STABLE
========================================

Dependencies

Zero external dependencies. Uses only Python standard library:

• json
• os
• datetime
• pathlib

Security

• No API keys required
• All data stored locally
• No network requests
• Configurable via environment variables (no hardcoded paths)

Inspiration

Based on research from HKUDS/ClawWork on economic incentives for AI agents. Adapted for OpenClaw agent systems.

License

MIT

Author

OpenClaw Community

Version

1.0.0