cost-optimizer

A toolkit for estimating and tracking the cost of using large language models. It counts tokens, the text units models process, and maps usage to prices for different models.

In plain words
What is it for?
For counting tokens, estimating input and output costs, analysing OpenClaw usage logs, comparing model tiers, and reviewing cumulative spend.
Why use it?
It helps explain where model spending comes from and supports decisions about model choice, task size, batching, and unnecessary usage.

Skill for Claude CodeCodex

Install

Getting it into your agent

One page per mod, every tool's command on it. A separate URL per tool would split the same page into five that compete with each other.

agentmods
npx agentmods add skills/jansenanalytics/claudex/cost-optimizer
Any agent
npx skills add JansenAnalytics/claudex --skill cost-optimizer
Clone the repo
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/JansenAnalytics/claudex

Made for: Claude Code, Codex.

Per session 29 Skills are progressive disclosure: only the name and description are preloaded; the body loads when the skill is used.
When invoked 384 The whole file, excluding the scripts and references it only reads on demand.
Security scan A 0 findings. Scan, not verified.
Origin original No closer match found in the catalogue.
Token cost

What it costs to keep this loaded

Counted locally with the o200k_base tokenizer, which is exact for GPT models; Claude uses its own tokenizer and its counts differ. Treat this as one consistent yardstick across the catalogue rather than a bill. Prices are per million input tokens.

ModelPer sessionOnce invoked
Fable 5 $0.00029 $0.00384
Opus 5 $0.00015 $0.00192
Sonnet 5 $0.00006 $0.00077
Haiku 4.5 $0.00003 $0.00038

Measured 2d ago against content hash 08ddadac088f, method: parsed. Prices are Anthropic first-party input rates as of 2026-08-30, from the pricing page.

Security

Grade A, and why

cost-optimizer scanned grade A with 0 findings against 26 rules in 11 categories — prompt injection, anti-refusal, data exfiltration, privilege escalation, supply chain, agent snooping, system-prompt leakage, SSRF and excessive agency — measured 2d ago.

A static scan of the body, not an audit. Every finding is printed with the line that produced it so you can judge whether it matters here. A mod is markdown that instructs an agent; that is exactly why what it instructs is worth reading.

Nothing flagged

None of the 26 patterns this scan looks for appear in this file: no shell pipes, no recursive deletes, no credential paths, no hidden text, no instruction-override or anti-refusal phrasing, no agent-config snooping. That is not a guarantee, it is the absence of the things that are checkable.

skills/cost-optimizer/SKILL.md · 55 lines

What it actually says

cost-optimizer

Track and optimize LLM token spend: estimate costs per task, recommend model tiers, monitor cumulative usage, suggest batching strategies.

Use When

  • Analyzing API costs for a project or session
  • Choosing between model tiers (opus vs sonnet vs haiku)
  • Estimating token budgets for upcoming work
  • Reducing unnecessary token usage
  • Reviewing cumulative spend

Scripts

token-counter.py

Count tokens in text input (stdin or file). Uses tiktoken-compatible estimation.

echo "Hello world" | python3 scripts/token-counter.py
python3 scripts/token-counter.py < myfile.txt
python3 scripts/token-counter.py --file myfile.txt

cost-estimator.py

Map token counts to USD costs for various models.

python3 scripts/cost-estimator.py --input 1000 --output 500 --model claude-opus-4
python3 scripts/cost-estimator.py --input 1000 --output 500  # shows all models

usage-analyzer.sh

Analyze OpenClaw usage logs to find spending patterns.

bash scripts/usage-analyzer.sh [--days 7] [--log-dir ~/.openclaw/logs]

References

  • references/model-pricing.md — Current pricing for major LLM providers
  • references/token-heuristics.md — Rules of thumb for estimating tokens
  • references/cost-reduction.md — Strategies to reduce token spend
Changes

What this file has done since we first saw it

Hashed on every crawl. A supply-chain change to an agent config is a question of when, not whether, so the history is kept rather than the latest state alone.

  1. 2d ago First seen · 55 lines · 29 tokens per session scan A 08ddadac088f

Subscribe to this mod's changes

cost-optimizer is a skill published in the GitHub repository JansenAnalytics/claudex (5 stars, last pushed 2mo ago), licensed MIT. It adds 29 tokens to every session and 384 once invoked, about $0.0001 per session on Opus 5. A static security scan graded it A with 0 findings. No closer match exists in the catalogue, so it is treated as the original; first seen 2026-08-31.