daily-budget-check — Claude Code skill: spend check and setup
Compare today’s agent-session costs with a daily budget and see where the current spending pace points. Handy for a morning or evening budget check.
npx skills add hoangsonww/Claude-Code-Agent-Monitor --skill daily-budget-check -a claude-codeWhat daily-budget-check does
The skill totals costs from sessions started today, then compares that figure with the daily budget you provide. Its report covers the amount spent, the expected spend by this point in the day, and a straight-line estimate for the end of the day. It also ranks today’s costliest sessions and suggests a budget adjustment when the estimate runs over.
It reads /api/pricing/cost and /api/sessions?limit=200. When a session has no inline cost, the skill estimates its value from the average session cost and marks the total as approximate. Pass a daily budget as an argument. If you leave it out, the skill asks for one or derives it from a monthly budget, stating that assumption.
The projection follows the spending pace so far. Early in the day, that can be a shaky basis: when less than ~0.1 of the day has elapsed, the report labels the estimate low-confidence. Treat that early figure accordingly.
What it helps with
- compare today's session costs with a daily budget
- check spending pace against the time elapsed
- project total spend through the end of the day
- rank the costliest sessions started today
- see the remaining daily allowance
Example prompts for the agent
- Check today's spend against a daily budget of $5.
- Compare today's costs with $5/day and estimate the end-of-day total.
- List today's most expensive sessions and show the remaining daily allowance.
How to install daily-budget-check
1Skills CLI (Vercel)
npx skills add hoangsonww/Claude-Code-Agent-Monitor --skill daily-budget-check -a claude-code2Manually: put the files in place
~/.claude/skills/daily-budget-check/SKILL.mdCopy the whole skill folder; for one project use .claude/skills/daily-budget-check/
1Skills CLI (Vercel)
npx skills add hoangsonww/Claude-Code-Agent-Monitor --skill daily-budget-check -a codex2Manually: put the files in place
.agents/skills/daily-budget-check/SKILL.mdFor all projects use ~/.agents/skills/
1Skills CLI (Vercel)
npx skills add hoangsonww/Claude-Code-Agent-Monitor --skill daily-budget-check -a cursor2Manually: put the files in place
.cursor/skills/daily-budget-check/SKILL.mdCursor also reads .agents/skills/ and .claude/skills/
1GitHub CLI
gh skill install hoangsonww/Claude-Code-Agent-Monitor daily-budget-check2Manually: put the files in place
.github/skills/daily-budget-check/SKILL.md1Skills CLI (Vercel)
npx skills add hoangsonww/Claude-Code-Agent-Monitor --skill daily-budget-check -a gemini-cli2Platform CLI
gemini skills install https://github.com/hoangsonww/Claude-Code-Agent-Monitor --path plugins/ccam-cost-guard/skills/daily-budget-checkManually: put the files in place
.devin/skills/daily-budget-check/SKILL.mdThe legacy .windsurf/skills/ path still works
Skills CLI (Vercel)
npx skills add hoangsonww/Claude-Code-Agent-Monitor --skill daily-budget-check -a opencodeClaude.ai
Zip the folder and upload it in Settings → Capabilities → Skills
Step by step, with commands for each platform: How to install skills in Claude Code: five ways
Questions about daily-budget-check
How do I install daily-budget-check in Claude Code?
Run npx skills add hoangsonww/Claude-Code-Agent-Monitor --skill daily-budget-check -a claude-code. The skill file is at ~/.claude/skills/daily-budget-check/SKILL.md.
What does daily-budget-check do?
It measures costs from sessions started today against a daily limit, reports the spending pace, and estimates the end-of-day total. The report also identifies the most expensive sessions.
How does the skill handle sessions without a cost value?
It estimates their cost using the average cost per session and flags the resulting spend figure as approximate.
Source text
SKILL.md · MIT
---
name: daily-budget-check
description: >
Run a daily spend check-in against a daily budget on the Agent Monitor
dashboard — today's spend vs the daily target, pace through the day, and the
projected overage if the current pace holds. Uses /api/pricing/cost and
/api/sessions (grouped by started_at = today). Use for a quick daily spend
check-in or a morning/evening budget pulse.
---
# Daily Budget Check
A fast daily pulse: are you on pace against today's budget?
## Input
The user provides: **$ARGUMENTS**
This is the **daily budget in dollars** — e.g. `"5"` or `"$5/day"`. If omitted, ask
for one or derive it from a monthly budget (`monthly / days_in_month`) and state the
assumption.
## Data Sources
| Endpoint | Returns |
|----------|---------|
| `GET /api/pricing/cost` | `{ total_cost, breakdown: [{ model, input_tokens, output_tokens, cache_read_tokens, cache_write_tokens, cost, matched_rule }] }` — fleet-wide spend and the avg cost-per-session used to value today's sessions |
| `GET /api/sessions?limit=200` | Session list with inline `cost` and `started_at` — filter to today (`DATE(started_at) = today`) to isolate today's spend |
## Method
Spend has no per-day field, so isolate **today** from the session list:
1. **Today's sessions** = sessions whose `started_at` is today (local date).
2. **Today's spend** = sum of inline `cost` over today's sessions. If inline `cost` is absent for some rows, fall back to `today_session_count × (total_cost / total_session_count)` and flag it as approximate.
3. **Pace**: `fraction_of_day_elapsed = hours_since_midnight / 24`. `expected_by_now = daily_budget × fraction_of_day_elapsed`.
4. **Pace delta** = `today_spend − expected_by_now` (▲ ahead of budget / ▼ behind).
5. **End-of-day projection**: `projected_today = today_spend / fraction_of_day_elapsed` (linear extrapolation of the current pace). Guard against tiny `fraction_of_day_elapsed` early in the day — if under ~0.1, label the projection low-confidence.
6. **Projected overage** = `projected_today − daily_budget` (positive = over).
## Report Sections
### 1. Today vs budget
One headline line: **today's spend / daily budget**, and the percent consumed. Verdict: **under** / **on pace** / **over**.
### 2. Pace
`expected_by_now` vs actual `today_spend`, the ▲/▼ pace delta, and the fraction of the day elapsed.
### 3. End-of-day projection
`projected_today` and the projected overage/headroom vs the daily budget. Note the confidence (low early in the day).
### 4. Today's drivers
Today's sessions ranked by `cost` (top 5): name/id, model, cost. Surface any premium-model session inflating the day.
### 5. Nudge
If projected over: one concrete cut (route the priciest session type cheaper — see `model-savings`; or arm a `token_threshold` rule via `budget-set`). If under: confirm headroom and the remaining daily allowance.
## Output
Compact Markdown — this is a daily check-in, keep it tight. Currency as USD to 4 decimal places; pace deltas with ▲/▼. Lead with the verdict line.
© hoangsonww · MIT · hoangsonww/Claude-Code-Agent-Monitor