Token Cost Management for Everyone

You will understand what a token is, why and how AI bills per token (versus the subscription pricing you know), and the key insight that the AI re-reads the whole conversation every turn — so costs snowball as a thread grows and multiply when agents take steps.

You will control what is in the context window so the AI re-reads less each turn — using fresh chats for new topics, summarize-and-restart for long ones, and including only what the task needs.

You will use tools efficiently — turning off connectors a task does not need, invoking heavy modes and web search only when the task calls for them, and drafting in a light format before converting to a heavy one at the end.

You will match model size and reasoning effort to the task rather than defaulting to the biggest option, reserving the premium model for genuinely hard work.

You will make each turn earn its keep — being specific the first time, batching related questions, editing-and-regenerating instead of arguing, controlling output length, and stopping runaway answers.