---

name: lemnos-cost-guard description: "Real-time API cost tracking, context bloat detection, and budget enforcement for OpenClaw agents. Use when setting up cost guardrails, checking daily spend, logging token usage after a task, analyzing context bloat, generating cost reports (daily/weekly/monthly), getting model routing recommendations, or when a user asks about API costs, budget status, or why costs are high."

Lemnos Cost Guard

Track token usage, enforce budgets, detect context bloat, and route to cheaper models.

Quick Reference

Script	Purpose
scripts/track_cost.py	Log a cost entry after a task
scripts/cost_report.py	Generate cost summary
scripts/context_analyzer.py	Scan workspace for bloat

Pricing and model routing rules: references/model_pricing.md

Workflow

After Every Significant Task

Log cost immediately using session delta (session_status before vs after):

python3 skills/lemnos-cost-guard/scripts/track_cost.py \
  --task "email batch" \
  --input 45000 \
  --output 1200 \
  --model claude-sonnet-4-6

Logs to: logs/cost-YYYY-MM-DD.jsonl

Daily Briefing — Cost Summary Block

Run before sending the morning briefing:

python3 skills/lemnos-cost-guard/scripts/cost_report.py --days 1 --budget 5.00 --format brief

Include output verbatim in briefing. Flag anything over 80% of budget.

Budget Alerts

• ≥80% of $5/day → warn Nick, pause non-revenue tasks
• ≥100% of $5/day → hard stop, notify Nick immediately
• Single call >500K input tokens → immediate alert
• I/O ratio >50:1 → context bloat warning, recommend compaction

Context Bloat Check (run weekly or when costs spike)

python3 skills/lemnos-cost-guard/scripts/context_analyzer.py \
  --workspace /root/.openclaw/workspace

Context Loading Rules (enforce on every session)

Load ONLY what the current task requires:

Task	Load
Morning briefing	SOUL.md, USER.md, MEMORY.md, HEARTBEAT.md, today's memory
Email outreach	MEMORY.md (Lemnos rules only), sent-log.md
LinkedIn research	sent-log.md only
Crypto/market	MEMORY.md (crypto section only)
Heartbeat (nothing to do)	HEARTBEAT.md only

Do NOT load full MEMORY.md + all skills + all reference files unless the task requires it.

Model Routing

See references/model_pricing.md for full table. Quick rules:

• Simple tasks (format, classify, status check) → Haiku ($0.80/M input)
• Default → Sonnet ($3/M input)
• Opus → never, unless explicitly requested

Cost Log Format

Each entry in logs/cost-YYYY-MM-DD.jsonl:

{
  "ts": "2026-02-24T18:00:00Z",
  "task": "email batch send",
  "model": "claude-sonnet-4-6",
  "input_tokens": 45000,
  "output_tokens": 1200,
  "ratio": 37.5,
  "cost_usd": 0.153,
  "notes": "batch 1 + batch 2"
}

ClawHub Distribution

Free tier: daily cost tracking + budget alerts Premium ($40-60/mo): full dashboards, model routing automation, context optimization reports, weekly/monthly rollups

Skill file: lemnos-cost-guard.skill