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Agent skill

Cost Burn

by ruvnet in ruvnet/ruflo

Burn-rate trend over time with optional drift-alert exit code.

MITAuto-check: notesAI & LLM Engineering

Install Cost Burn

skills CLI
$ npx skills add ruvnet/ruflo --skill cost-burn -a claude-code

Project install by default; add -g for ~/.claude/skills/.

GitHub CLI
$ gh skill install ruvnet/ruflo cost-burn --agent claude-code

Project scope by default; add --scope user for a personal install. Needs GitHub CLI 2.90.0 or later (public preview).

Manual copy
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/ruvnet/ruflo.git skills-src && mkdir -p .claude/skills && cp -r skills-src/plugins/ruflo-cost-tracker/skills/cost-burn .claude/skills/cost-burn && rm -rf skills-src

Use ~/.claude/skills/ instead of .claude/skills for a personal install. The folder must contain SKILL.md.

Claude Code skills documentation · loads skills from .claude/skills/

Facts

Skill name
cost-burn
GitHub stars
74k
Token cost
~824 tokens
SKILL.md length
271 words
Files
1
Skills in repo
264
Repo updated
First seen
Licence
MIT

At a glance

Burn-rate trend over time with optional drift-alert exit code.

  • Works in 5 steps: Read all session-* records from… → Bin into --bucket duration windows… → For each bucket: {n: sessions, spendUsd:… → …
  • Tasks that involve LLM cost and token optimization
  • SKILL.md covers Algorithm, Smoke transcript (5 days @…, Drift alert exit code and CI integration, plus 2 more sections
  • Instructions only: no scripts, shell commands, URLs or credentials in SKILL.md

What it does

Cost Burn is an agent skill from ruvnet/ruflo. Burn-rate trend over time with optional drift-alert exit code. Bins session spend into buckets, surfaces window-over-window delta, and can exit 1 when latest bucket exceeds prior mean by a configurable %. Distinct from cost-trend (benchmark drift); this tracks PRODUCTION spend trajectory.

Its SKILL.md is about 820 tokens, which your agent loads only when the skill is triggered. It is a single SKILL.md file with no bundled scripts.

It sits in AI & LLM Engineering, covering LLM cost and token optimization. The repository describes itself as: 🌊 The original agent harness. Deploy intelligent multi-player swarms, coordinate autonomous workflows, and build conversational AI systems. Features adaptive memory…. The licence is MIT.

When your agent uses it

  • Tasks that involve LLM cost and token optimization

Example prompts

  • “/cost-burn”

Requirements

  • Pre-approved tools (allowed-tools): Bash

Workflow steps

5 steps, taken from the first numbered list in SKILL.md.

  1. Read all session-* records from cost-tracking namespace.
  2. Bin into --bucket duration windows (default 1d) over --lookback (default 14d).
  3. For each bucket: {n: sessions, spendUsd: sum(total_cost_usd)}.
  4. Compute delta = latest.spendUsd - mean(prior non-empty buckets).
  5. If --alert-on-acceleration-pct N is set: exit 1 when deltaPct > N.

What it can do on your machine

Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit 58e0ae7. It shows what the files ask for, not the result of running them.

  • Tool permissions

    Pre-approves these tools, so the agent can use them without asking each time:

    • Bash

    From allowed-tools in the SKILL.md frontmatter.

  • Runs code

    No scripts in the folder and no shell commands in SKILL.md (its code samples are bash).

    From the folder's file list and the shell code blocks in SKILL.md.

  • Network

    No URLs in SKILL.md.

    From URLs in SKILL.md, links to its own repository left out.

  • Credentials

    Names no API keys, tokens, secrets or passwords.

    From names ending in _API_KEY, _TOKEN, _SECRET, _KEY or _PASSWORD in SKILL.md.

Context cost

Cost Burn loads about 824 tokens when it runs. Until then it costs about 75 tokens; SKILL.md has 271 words of instructions outside code blocks.

Always · name and description, kept in context so the agent knows when to use it
~75
When it runs · the whole SKILL.md, loaded when a task matches
~824

Estimates: characters ÷ 4, the usual rule of thumb; real counts depend on the model's tokenizer. Scripts and assets cost tokens only if the agent reads them.

Safety

Auto-check: notes

The automated check noted patterns worth knowing about, such as sudo or a known installer.

  • NotePre-approves every shell command (allowed-tools: Bash)SKILL.md
    allowed-tools: Bash

Automated static check — not a guarantee. Review scripts before installing. It scans the text of SKILL.md for risky patterns (piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files, hidden Unicode, destructive commands); files beside SKILL.md are not scanned.

SKILL.md

The full file from ruvnet/ruflo at commit 58e0ae7, republished under its MIT licence (© ruvnet). 271 words, ~824 tokens.

Download SKILL.mdSave it as .claude/skills/cost-burn/SKILL.md (or your agent's skills folder).
name
cost-burn
description
Burn-rate trend over time with optional drift-alert exit code. Bins session spend into buckets, surfaces window-over-window delta, and can exit 1 when latest bucket exceeds prior mean by a configurable %. Distinct from `cost-trend` (benchmark drift); this tracks PRODUCTION spend trajectory.
allowed-tools
Bash
argument-hint
[--bucket 1d] [--lookback 14d] [--alert-on-acceleration-pct 50] [--format table|json]

Burn-rate trend observability. The fourth leg of the cost-tracker forward-cost stack:

QuestionSkill
"Have we crossed a threshold?" (reactive)cost-budget-check
"When will we cross a threshold?" (predictive)cost-projection
"Could we have spent less?" (comparative)cost-counterfactual
"Is daily burn ACCELERATING?" (trend)cost-burn ← this

Algorithm

Implementation: scripts/burn.mjs.

  1. Read all session-* records from cost-tracking namespace.
  2. Bin into --bucket duration windows (default 1d) over --lookback (default 14d).
  3. For each bucket: {n: sessions, spendUsd: sum(total_cost_usd)}.
  4. Compute delta = latest.spendUsd - mean(prior non-empty buckets).
  5. If --alert-on-acceleration-pct N is set: exit 1 when deltaPct > N.

Smoke transcript (5 days @ $0.10/day, today $0.50 — 400% acceleration)

| Latest bucket spend | $0.500000 (1 sessions) |
| Prior bucket mean | $0.100000 (4 non-empty buckets) |
| **Delta (latest vs prior mean)** | **+$0.400000 (400.00%)** |

# | Window                              | Sessions | Spend
0 | 2026-06-15 14:16 → 2026-06-16 14:16 | 1        | $0.500000
1 | 2026-06-14 14:16 → 2026-06-15 14:16 | 0        | $0.000000
2 | 2026-06-13 14:16 → 2026-06-14 14:16 | 1        | $0.100000
3 | 2026-06-12 14:16 → 2026-06-13 14:16 | 1        | $0.100000
...

Drift alert exit code

$ cost burn --bucket 1d --lookback 7d --alert-on-acceleration-pct 50 ⚠ ALERT: latest bucket $0.500000 is 400.0% above prior mean $0.100000 (threshold +50%) exit 1

$ cost burn --bucket 1d --lookback 7d --alert-on-acceleration-pct 500 ✓ latest bucket within +500% of prior mean (actual delta: 400.0%) — OK exit 0

CI integration

bash
# Fail the build if today's spend accelerated > 100% over the weekly mean
cost burn --bucket 1d --lookback 7d --alert-on-acceleration-pct 100 || alert-oncall

The alert is independent of budget — it triggers on rate ACCELERATION even when total spend is well under budget. Catches "we shipped a hot loop that burns 10× normal" before the budget alarm goes off.

Distinct from cost-trend

SkillData sourceQuestion
cost-trenddocs/benchmarks/runs/*.json"Is the benchmark drifting (win rate, latency)?"
cost-burncost-tracking namespace"Is production spend accelerating?"

Both useful; they answer different questions on different data.

Edge cases

  • Sparse history (no prior non-empty buckets): alert is SKIPPED with a reason string, exit 0. Operators don't get spurious alerts on cold-start.
  • Prior buckets all $0 but latest > $0: delta is Infinity/null in JSON, marked new in the table. No alert fires (no baseline to compare against).
  • --bucket > --lookback: hard error, exit 2.

© ruvnet, MIT. Rendered from Markdown: HTML in the file is shown as text, images as links, and headings moved down two levels. Raw file

Files

Just SKILL.md in plugins/ruflo-cost-tracker/skills/cost-burn of ruvnet/ruflo.

Open the folder on GitHubat commit 58e0ae7

Compare with similar skills

Cost Burn next to the 5 skills that share the most tags, products or categories with it. Stars are the repository's; “used in” counts other GitHub owners with a copy.

Cost Burn compared with similar skills
SkillStarsUsed inTokensAuto-checkLicenceRepo updated
Cost Burn this skillruvnet/ruflo74k—~824Automated safety check: NotesMIT
Context Compressionguanyang/open-agent-hub9772 repos~4.6kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
Bounty Hunter1sadjlk/bounty-hunter-skill2821 repos~761Automated safety check: PassMIT
Skill Shortenerluongnv89/asm954—~3.8kAutomated safety check: NotesMIT
Fleet Auditoralexgreensh/token-optimizer2.5k—~1.7kAutomated safety check: PassCustom licence
Context Auditundefined-ui/second-brain-os1k—~802Automated safety check: PassMIT

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Categories

Questions about Cost Burn

What does Cost Burn do?

Burn-rate trend over time with optional drift-alert exit code. Cost Burn is an agent skill from ruvnet/ruflo. Burn-rate trend over time with optional drift-alert exit code.

When should I use Cost Burn?

Cost Burn fits situations like: tasks that involve LLM cost and token optimization.

How do I install Cost Burn in Claude Code?

Run `npx skills add ruvnet/ruflo --skill cost-burn -a claude-code`. Or copy the skill folder (plugins/ruflo-cost-tracker/skills/cost-burn in ruvnet/ruflo) into .claude/skills/cost-burn in your project. Claude Code loads it when a task matches its description.

How do I install Cost Burn in Codex?

Run `npx skills add ruvnet/ruflo --skill cost-burn -a codex`. Or copy the skill folder (plugins/ruflo-cost-tracker/skills/cost-burn in ruvnet/ruflo) into .agents/skills/cost-burn in your project. Codex loads it when a task matches its description.

Can I use Cost Burn in Cursor, Gemini CLI or GitHub Copilot?

Cursor, Gemini CLI, GitHub Copilot and OpenCode also load SKILL.md folders. With the skills CLI, run `npx skills add ruvnet/ruflo --skill cost-burn -a cursor` (or -a gemini-cli, github-copilot or opencode for the others). To copy it by hand, put the folder in .cursor/skills/cost-burn, .gemini/skills/cost-burn, .github/skills/cost-burn and .opencode/skills/cost-burn in your project.

What does Cost Burn need to run?

SKILL.md names no scripts, command-line tools or credentials: Cost Burn is instructions for the agent only. Its frontmatter pre-approves these tools: Bash.

Does Cost Burn access the network?

SKILL.md contains no URLs. Any network use would come from the scripts or tools the agent runs. This is read from the text; nothing was executed.

Is Cost Burn safe to install?

Our automated static check of SKILL.md found notes only (pre-approves every shell command (allowed-tools: bash)), nothing it rates as a warning. It is not a guarantee. Review the folder before installing.

What licence does Cost Burn use?

Cost Burn is published under the MIT licence (the repository's licence). It allows redistribution, so the full SKILL.md is shown on this page.

How many tokens does Cost Burn use?

About 824 tokens (SKILL.md is roughly 3.3k characters). Agents keep only the skill's name and description in context until a task matches; then they load SKILL.md in full.

What are the alternatives to Cost Burn?

Skills that share tags, products or a category with Cost Burn: Context Compression (guanyang/open-agent-hub, 977 stars), Bounty Hunter (1sadjlk/bounty-hunter-skill, 282 stars), Skill Shortener (luongnv89/asm, 954 stars) and Fleet Auditor (alexgreensh/token-optimizer, 2.5k stars). The comparison table on this page puts their stars, adoption, token cost, safety result and licence side by side.

Who maintains Cost Burn?

ruvnet (a GitHub user) maintains it in ruvnet/ruflo, which has 74,159 GitHub stars. The repository holds 264 skills in this directory. The repository was last updated on October 9, 2026.

Source: ruvnet/ruflo on GitHub. Facts on this page come from the repository at the commit we read; the author's words are quoted as theirs.