Token management is real. I've seen people burn $10 in 2 minutes without realizing it. Here's the framework: → NEVER use your expensive model (Opus) for heartbeat/monitoring. Use Gemini Flash or a cheap local model. That alone can save you hundreds per month. → Use sub-agents for simple tasks. Your main brain should delegate, not do everything itself. → Watch your context size. The bigger the context, the more tokens every single message costs. Keep it lean. → Set up token tracking. Run /status regularly. Know what you're spending. → Don't paste your entire chat history into every prompt. Be surgical with context. Realistic budget: If you're smart about routing, you can run a solid AI agent setup for $100-200/month on API. If you're sloppy, you'll hit $500+ easy. The golden rule: if it makes money, there is no budget. Do more of it. But TRACK what's making money vs what's just cool. Don't trip over dollars to pick up pennies.