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AI/MLruvnet

cost-budget-check

Read accumulated cost-tracking spend + budget config, compute utilization, emit 50/75/90/100% alert ladder

Stars
56,726
Source
ruvnet/claude-flow
Updated
2026-05-31
Slug
ruvnet--claude-flow--cost-budget-check
View on GitHubRaw SKILL.md

// install — copy + paste into any project

mkdir -p .claude/skills && curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ruvnet/claude-flow/HEAD/plugins/ruflo-cost-tracker/skills/cost-budget-check/SKILL.md -o .claude/skills/cost-budget-check.md

Drops the SKILL.md into .claude/skills/cost-budget-check.md. Works with Claude Code, Cursor, and any agent that loads SKILL.md files from .claude/skills/.

Cost Budget Check

Reads cost-tracking:budget-config for the project's budget limit, sums total_cost_usd across session-* records produced by cost-track, computes utilization, and emits the measured 4-tier alert ladder (50% INFO / 75% WARNING / 90% CRITICAL / 100% HARD_STOP).

Until P2 (this skill) landed, the README documented the alert ladder but no code checked it. Now this skill is the gate.

When to use

  • After every cost-track run, to surface the alert level.
  • Before spawning a swarm — if utilization ≥ 90%, escalate to /cost-optimize first.
  • Cron-friendly via /loop 30m for continuous monitoring.

Steps

  1. Run the check:

    node plugins/ruflo-cost-tracker/scripts/budget.mjs check
    

    Filter by period: BUDGET_PERIOD=today (default all). Use BUDGET_QUIET=1 for machine-readable JSON.

  2. Inspect the markdown summary — budget, spent, remaining, utilization percentage, alert level (🟢 OK · 🟡 INFO · 🟠 WARNING · 🔴 CRITICAL · 🛑 HARD_STOP), and the recommended action.

  3. Set / inspect the budget:

    node plugins/ruflo-cost-tracker/scripts/budget.mjs set 50.00
    node plugins/ruflo-cost-tracker/scripts/budget.mjs get
    
  4. HARD_STOP pathbudget.mjs check exits with code 1 when utilization ≥ 100%. Wrap critical agent spawns in a budget.mjs check && spawn … guard to fail closed.

Storage shape (cost-tracking:budget-config)

{
  "budget_usd": 50.00,
  "setAt": "2026-05-05T...",
  "thresholds": { "info": 0.50, "warning": 0.75, "critical": 0.90, "hard_stop": 1.00 }
}

Alert ladder (from REFERENCE.md, now enforced)

Threshold Level Action
50% INFO 🟡 log notification, no UX disruption
75% WARNING 🟠 display warning, suggest /cost-optimize
90% CRITICAL 🔴 urgent alert, recommend model downgrades
100% HARD_STOP 🛑 halt non-essential spawns; exit code 1

Cross-references

  • cost-track (producer) — populates cost-tracking:session-*
  • cost-report — same data source, narrative format
  • cost-optimize — recommended action when WARNING/CRITICAL
  • REFERENCE.md "Budget alert thresholds" — the documented ladder this enforces