ClawHub

LLM Cost Guard

Monitors and enforces real-time LLM API spending with per-user quotas, alerts, daily reports, and budget limits to prevent cost overruns.

Audits

Pending
ClawScanReview

Agentic behavior and permission review.

Static analysisPending

Pattern checks against bundled files.

VirusTotalPass

Multi-engine malware detections and file reputation.

Install

openclaw skills install llm-cost-guard

LLM Cost Guard — Token Budget & Spend Monitor

Track, budget, and alert on LLM API spending in real-time. Prevents runaway costs for AI agents, multi-user apps, and homelab automation.

What It Does

  • Real-time cost tracking — records every LLM call (tokens in/out, model, cost)
  • Budget enforcement — blocks requests when daily/monthly budgets are exceeded
  • Per-user quotas — free tier vs pro tier controls
  • Daily spend reports — delivered via WhatsApp/Telegram/Discord
  • Alerts — warns at 80% budget usage, blocks at 100%
  • Multi-model pricing — OpenAI, Anthropic, Groq, Ollama (Feb 2026 rates)

Quick Start

After install, configure your daily budget:

set budget daily 5.00

Then register API calls via the tracker:

# Log an LLM call
llm-cost-guard log --model gpt-4o --input-tokens 1500 --output-tokens 800 --user alice

# Check current spend
llm-cost-guard status

# View full report
llm-cost-guard report

Commands

CommandDescription
llm-cost-guard statusCurrent spend vs budget
llm-cost-guard reportFull breakdown by user/model/day
llm-cost-guard set-limit daily <USD>Set daily spend limit
llm-cost-guard set-limit user <key> <USD>Set per-user limit
llm-cost-guard resetReset counters (e.g., start of new period)
llm-cost-guard watchLive tail of all LLM calls
llm-cost-guard logRecord a manual LLM usage entry

Configuration

{
  "dailyCostLimit": 5.00,
  "monthlyCostLimit": 50.00,
  "perUserDailyCostLimit": 1.00,
  "defaultModel": "gpt-4o-mini",
  "alertAt": 0.8,
  "alertChannel": "whatsapp",
  "dataPath": "~/.openclaw/workspace/llm-cost-guard-data.json"
}

Supported Models (Built-in Pricing)

ProviderModels
OpenAIgpt-4o, gpt-4o-mini, gpt-4-turbo, gpt-3.5-turbo, o1, o1-mini, o3-mini
Anthropicclaude-3-5-sonnet, claude-3-5-haiku, claude-3-opus, claude-sonnet-4, claude-haiku-4
Groqllama-3.3-70b, llama-3.1-8b, mixtral-8x7b, gemma2-9b
OllamaLocal models (free, $0 tracked)

OpenClaw Cron Integration

The skill auto-installs a daily cron job to:

  1. Send a morning spend summary
  2. Alert if yesterday's spend exceeded budget
  3. Reset daily counters at midnight UTC
# Manually add cron
openclaw cron add "0 8 * * *" "llm-cost-guard report --send-to whatsapp"

Use Cases

Homelab AI Automation

You run multiple OpenClaw agents with different API budgets. This skill tracks each agent's spend independently and warns you before the bill arrives.

Multi-User Chatbot

Users get a free daily quota (e.g., $0.50/day). This skill enforces it, returning a friendly 429 when exceeded.

Cost Audit

Run llm-cost-guard report --period month to see your full monthly AI spend breakdown by model and user.

Data Storage

All data stored locally at ~/.openclaw/workspace/llm-cost-guard-data.json. No external services. No telemetry.

Why Zero Dependencies?

Every dependency is a potential VirusTotal flag, a supply chain risk, and a maintenance burden. This skill uses only Node.js stdlib and OpenClaw's built-in tools.

Source & Issues