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Budgets

Set a budget in the agent’s policy to track spending in dollars, tokens, or both. Once the threshold is reached, further model calls require approval or the turn ends.

~/.config/wardrik/policies/careful.yaml
budget:
  usd: 5.00
  tokens: 200000
  per: day            # turn, day, week, month or total
  grant: {usd: 2.00}
  on_exhausted: ask   # or deny

Budgets are checked before model calls. The call that crosses the threshold still completes; the next model call requires approval:

This agent has spent $5.02 of $5.00 today. Approve to allow $2.00 more.

  • Tool costs count toward spending, but the budget does not block tool calls.
  • Approving adds the amount in grant. on_exhausted: deny ends the turn instead.
  • An agent's conversations share its budget. An org policy's budget is shared by the org's agents.
  • Prices come from the provider, then the model catalog, then config.yaml's models.
  • wardrik ls shows each agent's spend today. Each message.completed and tool_call.completed event has a cost.

See all budget settings in Policies › Budgets.