See what your coding agent sessions really cost
Frugal Tokens reads your coding agent sessions and shows overall usage, estimated working time, overlapping sessions and where spend comes from across models and cache misses.
Source
dpc94 on Hacker News · 2026-08-19 · Project link
Written in our own words. Credit to the original author. Link checked 2026-10-16.
What they did
Frugal Tokens reads your coding agent sessions and shows overall usage, estimated working time, overlapping sessions and where spend comes from across models and cache misses.
Result (as claimed)
Live demo at demo.frugaltokens.com; 37 points on Show HN.
Tools they used
Cost: Claude Code: free plan, paid from $17/mo; OpenAI Codex: free plan, paid from $8/mo. Checked 2026-10-14.
Set it up
Pick a contained repo or task
Start on a branch or side project where mistakes are cheap.
Install and configure
Set up Claude Code, OpenAI Codex. Read what it can run on your machine and limit permissions where possible.
Run it on a real task
Give it a well-scoped issue and let it work. Review the diff like any pull request.
Add guardrails
Keep tests and CI in the loop, and never let an agent push to main or touch production secrets unattended.
Copy the full setup prompt
Paste into your agent and it will walk you through the setup, asking before anything that sends, posts or spends.
You are helping me set up this AI use case end to end in Claude Code. Goal: See what your coding agent sessions really cost What the original author did: Frugal Tokens reads your coding agent sessions and shows overall usage, estimated working time, overlapping sessions and where spend comes from across models and cache misses. Reported result (as claimed by the author): Live demo at demo.frugaltokens.com; 37 points on Show HN. Source: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49364223 Tools they used: Claude Code, OpenAI Codex Category: Dev & ops Please: 1. Ask me 3 short questions about my situation (accounts I have, budget, what I want the output to look like). 2. Propose a step-by-step plan using these tools or cheaper alternatives, with the time and cost of each step. Use official pricing pages; say "check pricing" if unsure. 3. Then do the setup with me one step at a time, waiting for my OK before anything that sends messages, posts publicly, spends money or deletes data. 4. Finish with a checklist to run it again next time.
You are helping me set up this AI use case end to end in Codex. Goal: See what your coding agent sessions really cost What the original author did: Frugal Tokens reads your coding agent sessions and shows overall usage, estimated working time, overlapping sessions and where spend comes from across models and cache misses. Reported result (as claimed by the author): Live demo at demo.frugaltokens.com; 37 points on Show HN. Source: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49364223 Tools they used: Claude Code, OpenAI Codex Category: Dev & ops Please: 1. Ask me 3 short questions about my situation (accounts I have, budget, what I want the output to look like). 2. Propose a step-by-step plan using these tools or cheaper alternatives, with the time and cost of each step. Use official pricing pages; say "check pricing" if unsure. 3. Then do the setup with me one step at a time, waiting for my OK before anything that sends messages, posts publicly, spends money or deletes data. 4. Finish with a checklist to run it again next time.
You are helping me set up this AI use case end to end in Grok Bot. Goal: See what your coding agent sessions really cost What the original author did: Frugal Tokens reads your coding agent sessions and shows overall usage, estimated working time, overlapping sessions and where spend comes from across models and cache misses. Reported result (as claimed by the author): Live demo at demo.frugaltokens.com; 37 points on Show HN. Source: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49364223 Tools they used: Claude Code, OpenAI Codex Category: Dev & ops Please: 1. Ask me 3 short questions about my situation (accounts I have, budget, what I want the output to look like). 2. Propose a step-by-step plan using these tools or cheaper alternatives, with the time and cost of each step. Use official pricing pages; say "check pricing" if unsure. 3. Then do the setup with me one step at a time, waiting for my OK before anything that sends messages, posts publicly, spends money or deletes data. 4. Finish with a checklist to run it again next time.
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