API Cost Optimizer#

Diagnose, estimate, and optimize LLM API costs for OpenClaw agents running 24/7.

What This Skill Does#

• Estimates API spend from agent configuration (model, heartbeat interval, task complexity)
• Diagnoses heartbeat waste — the #1 cause of runaway API bills
• Counts and categorizes tools the agent has access to
• Produces a cost report with prioritized recommendations
• Estimates time-to-payback for any recommended changes

The Problem This Solves#

Documented cases show agents burning $8–$250 per week in API costs due to misconfigured heartbeats and inefficient task patterns. A properly tuned heartbeat alone can reduce costs by 60–90%.

Environment Variables#

VariableRequiredDefaultDescriptionAPI_COST_MODELNoopenaiProvider: openai, anthropic, minimax, lmstudio``API_COST_INTERVALNoweeklyReport interval: daily, weekly, monthly``HEARTBEAT_INTERVALNoautoOverride heartbeat interval in seconds (auto-detect if not set)MODEL_PRICE_INPUTNoautoPrice per 1M input tokens (auto-selected by provider)MODEL_PRICE_OUTPUTNoautoPrice per 1M output tokens (auto-selected by provider)

Provider Default Pricing (per 1M tokens)#

ProviderModelInputOutputOpenAIGPT-4o$2.50$10.00OpenAIGPT-4o-mini$0.15$0.60OpenAIGPT-4-turbo$10.00$30.00AnthropicClaude 3.5 Sonnet$3.00$15.00AnthropicClaude 3 Opus$15.00$75.00MiniMaxMiniMax-M2$0.10$0.10MiniMaxMiniMax-M2.1$0.20$0.40

Scripts#

analyze.sh — Full Cost Analysis#

Runs a complete cost diagnostic on the current OpenClaw configuration.

bash

./scripts/analyze.sh

Output: Detailed markdown report with:

• Estimated API spend (daily / weekly / monthly)
• Heartbeat cost analysis
• Tool count risk factor
• Top 3 cost reduction recommendations
• Estimated savings after optimization

heartbeat_diagnosis.sh — Find Heartbeat Waste#

Checks OpenClaw heartbeat configuration and calculates wasted API calls.

bash

./scripts/heartbeat_diagnosis.sh

Output: Heartbeat efficiency score (0–100%), wasted calls per day, estimated annual waste.

estimate.sh — Quick Cost Estimate#

One-shot estimate with optional custom parameters.

bash

./scripts/estimate.sh <heartbeat_seconds> <tasks_per_day> <avg_input_tokens> <avg_output_tokens>

Output: Daily, weekly, and monthly cost estimates for the given parameters.

Cost Reduction Recommendations#

Priority order:

1. Increase heartbeat interval — If heartbeat is under 5 minutes, increase to 10–30 min for idle agents
2. Switch to cheaper model — MiniMax M2 at $0.10/1M is 25x cheaper than GPT-4o for most tasks
3. Batch tasks — Run 5–10 tasks per session instead of 1 task per heartbeat cycle
4. Cache responses — Use memory skills to avoid repeated context
5. Disable verbose logging — Reduces token churn in long conversations

Usage Example#

bash

# Full analysis with MiniMax pricing
export API_COST_MODEL=minimax
./scripts/analyze.sh

# Quick estimate
./scripts/estimate.sh 300 20 8000 2000

# Heartbeat-only diagnosis
./scripts/heartbeat_diagnosis.sh

Notes#

• Estimates are based on configuration analysis, not live API metering
• For actual spend tracking, enable provider cost logs and compare
• MiniMax models offer best price/performance for volume workloads
• Heartbeat waste is typically the single largest cost lever