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clawsmith.com/idea/enforce-per-agent-token-budgets-and-alert-before-api-bill-explodes
IdeaCompetitiveCLIOPEN-SOURCECOST-CONTROLLive

A background service that enforces per-agent token budgets, kills runaway retry loops, and alerts before API bills explode

OpenClaw ships with zero spending controls. After Anthropic forced 135,000+ instances onto API billing in April 2026, users discovered agents burning $200/day from infinite retry loops and 200K+ token context replays on every request. The OpenClaw creator himself burned $1.3M in one month running 100 Codex instances. This service sits between OpenClaw and LLM providers, enforcing per-agent and per-session token budgets with automatic circuit breakers that kill runaway loops before they drain the wallet.

Demand Breakdown

HN
3,097

Gap Assessment

CompetitiveMultiple tools exist but differentiation opportunities remain

3 tools exist (OpenRouter, Helicone, ClawMetry) but gaps remain: No per-agent budgets, no retry loop detection, no circuit breakers for runaway agents; No agent-aware budgeting, no automatic circuit breaker for retry loops, requires code changes.

Features3 agent-ready prompts

Reverse proxy that intercepts OpenClaw-to-LLM API calls, meters tokens per agent per session, and hard-kills requests exceeding configurable budgets
Retry loop detector that identifies agents stuck in repeated identical requests and circuit-breaks after N consecutive duplicates
Daily spend report CLI that aggregates per-agent token costs across providers and emails a summary with anomaly flags

Competitive LandscapeFREE

ProductDoesMissing
OpenRouterRoutes requests to 400+ models with usage trackingNo per-agent budgets, no retry loop detection, no circuit breakers for runaway agents
HeliconeLLM observability with cost tracking and rate limitingNo agent-aware budgeting, no automatic circuit breaker for retry loops, requires code changes
ClawMetryFree observability dashboard for OpenClaw with token cost monitoringRead-only monitoring with no enforcement, no budget caps, no circuit breakers

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