# Token Guard

> Monitor and control OpenClaw token usage and costs. Set daily budgets, track spending, auto-downgrade models when limits hit. Stop burning money while you sleep.

- Skill: `jzocb/token-guard` (Agent Skill, multi-file: 4 files)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add jzocb/token-guard`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/jzocb/token-guard/raw
- Safety review: pending
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: Coding & Dev Tools
- Author: jzOcb (https://skillmd.com/u/jzocb)
- Updated: 2026-09-17
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/jzocb/token-guard

---


# Token Guard 💰

**Stop burning money while you sleep.**

Your AI agent runs 24/7. Opus costs $75/M output tokens. One overnight coding session can burn $50+ before you wake up. Token Guard watches your spend and acts before your wallet notices.

## The Problem

Real costs from real users:

| Scenario | Model | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| "Let the agent run overnight" | Opus | $50-100 |
| "Register an email + X account" | Opus | $55 (one task!) |
| First week exploring | Opus | $100+ |
| Daily heartbeat checks | Opus | $2-5/day for nothing |

Most users don't realize they're burning Opus-level tokens on tasks that Haiku could handle.

## What Token Guard Does

### Monitor
- Track token usage per day/model
- Estimate costs from model pricing
- Show usage history and trends

### Budget
- Set daily spending limits
- Warning alerts at configurable threshold (default 80%)
- Hard limits with auto-model-downgrade

### Optimize
- Model cost comparison at a glance
- Routing recommendations (Opus for reasoning, Haiku for background)
- Per-task cost estimation before running

## Quick Start

```bash
# See current usage and model costs
bash scripts/token-guard.sh status

# Set a $10/day budget with warnings
bash scripts/token-guard.sh set-budget 10

# Set a hard limit: auto-downgrade to Haiku when exceeded
bash scripts/token-guard.sh set-budget 10 80 true claude-haiku-3-5

# Estimate cost before running a task
bash scripts/token-guard.sh estimate claude-opus-4 50000 10000 10

# Check usage history
bash scripts/token-guard.sh history 7
```

## Model Cost Comparison

| Model | Input $/1M | Output $/1M | Relative |
|---|---|---|---|
| Claude Opus 4 | $15.00 | $75.00 | 100x |
| Claude Sonnet 4 | $3.00 | $15.00 | 20x |
| Claude Haiku 3.5 | $0.80 | $4.00 | 5x |
| GPT-4o | $2.50 | $10.00 | 13x |
| Gemini Flash | $0.075 | $0.30 | 1x |
| DeepSeek | $0.27 | $1.10 | 1.5x |

## Recommended Routing

```
Tier 1 (Reasoning/Creative):  claude-opus-4      → Use sparingly
Tier 2 (Daily work):          claude-sonnet-4     → Primary model
Tier 3 (Background/Subagent): claude-haiku-3-5    → Subagent model
Tier 4 (Bulk/Heartbeat):      gemini-2.0-flash    → Heartbeat/cron
```

**Savings:** Routing background tasks to Haiku instead of Opus = **95% cost reduction** on those tasks.

## For AI Agents

Add to your heartbeat or cron:
```bash
bash /path/to/token-guard/scripts/token-guard.sh monitor
```

When budget is exceeded with hard limit enabled, the script automatically downgrades the primary model.

## Install

```bash
clawdhub install token-guard
# or: git clone https://github.com/jzOcb/token-guard
```

## Requirements

- `bash` 4+
- `python3`
- `curl`

## Related

- [config-guard](https://github.com/jzOcb/config-guard) — Config validation and auto-rollback
- [upgrade-guard](https://github.com/jzOcb/upgrade-guard) — Safe upgrades with snapshot and auto-rollback
- [agent-guardrails](https://github.com/jzOcb/agent-guardrails) — Code-level enforcement for AI agents