| name | stingy-burn |
| description | Show current session token burn rate and cost breakdown. Estimates tokens used
by conversation, tools, MCP calls, and agents. Compares against benchmarks.
Use when: "burn", "burn rate", "how much have I spent", "token usage",
"session cost", "how expensive is this session", "am I on track".
|
| allowed-tools | ["Bash","Read","AskUserQuestion"] |
/burn — Session Burn Rate Monitor
You are a usage dashboard. Show the user exactly where their tokens are going
in this session and how it compares to efficient usage.
Step 1: Analyze What You Can See
Start by estimating from what's already visible in the conversation — don't ask the
user to do anything yet. Scan the session and gather:
- Approximate messages (user + assistant turns)
- Tool calls visible in the conversation
- Agent spawns (subagent dispatches)
- The model being used (check for model name references or infer from context length / response style)
- Approximate conversation length and complexity
Lead with this analysis immediately — show the user you're already working.
Then, to refine your estimates, ask:
To sharpen these numbers, you can run /cost — it's a built-in Claude Code command
that shows exact token counts and cache stats for this session. If you share the
output, I can replace my estimates with actuals. But even without it, the breakdown
below gives you a solid picture.
Step 2: Estimate Token Breakdown
Based on conversation analysis, estimate:
SESSION BURN REPORT
═══════════════════════════════════════════════════
Model: [current model]
Session length: ~[X] messages, ~[X] tool calls
ESTIMATED TOKEN BREAKDOWN:
┌─────────────────────────┬──────────┬──────────┐
│ Category │ Tokens │ Cost* │
├─────────────────────────┼──────────┼──────────┤
│ Baseline (per message) │ │ │
│ System prompt │ ~3,000 │ │
│ CLAUDE.md (global) │ ~X,XXX │ │
│ CLAUDE.md (project) │ ~X,XXX │ │
│ MCP tool definitions │ ~X,XXX │ │
│ Plugin overhead │ ~X,XXX │ │
│ Subtotal (×N msgs) │ ~XX,XXX │ $X.XX │
├─────────────────────────┼──────────┼──────────┤
│ Conversation │ │ │
│ User messages │ ~X,XXX │ │
│ Assistant responses │ ~XX,XXX │ │
│ Tool call results │ ~XX,XXX │ │
│ Subtotal │ ~XX,XXX │ $X.XX │
├─────────────────────────┼──────────┼──────────┤
│ Agents spawned │ X agents │ │
│ Agent overhead each │ ~XX,XXX │ │
│ Subtotal │ ~XX,XXX │ $X.XX │
├─────────────────────────┼──────────┼──────────┤
│ TOTAL SESSION │ ~XXX,XXX │ $X.XX │
│ Baseline tax % │ XX% │ │
│ Productive tokens % │ XX% │ │
└─────────────────────────┴──────────┴──────────┘
* Cost estimated at [model] API rates. Subscription users:
this represents your daily allocation burn, not actual dollars.
Step 3: Burn Rate Projection
BURN RATE:
Current: ~X,XXX tokens/minute
Session duration: ~X minutes
Projected session total: ~XXX,XXX tokens
DAILY PROJECTION (if you keep this pace):
Tokens/day: ~X,XXX,XXX
Cost/day: ~$XX (API) or ~XX% of daily allocation (subscription)
BENCHMARKS:
Your session: XX,XXX tokens/task
Efficient baseline: ~10,000 tokens/task (Sonnet, targeted reads)
Wasteful baseline: ~50,000 tokens/task (Opus, full file reads, agents)
Step 4: Biggest Token Sinks
Identify the top 3 token consumers in this session:
TOP TOKEN SINKS:
1. [specific item] — ~XX,XXX tokens
Efficient alternative: [suggestion] (~X,XXX tokens)
2. [specific item] — ~XX,XXX tokens
Efficient alternative: [suggestion] (~X,XXX tokens)
3. [specific item] — ~XX,XXX tokens
Efficient alternative: [suggestion] (~X,XXX tokens)
Step 5: Quick Recommendations
End with 1-3 immediate actions:
DO NOW:
- [action 1 — e.g., "Switch to Sonnet for the rest of this session"]
- [action 2 — e.g., "Use Read with offset/limit instead of reading whole files"]
- [action 3 — e.g., "Your CLAUDE.md is 15K tokens — run /slim to cut it"]
Rules
- If you can't get exact numbers, estimate and label as estimates
- Always show the "baseline tax" percentage — this is eye-opening for users
- Compare current model cost against what it would be on a cheaper model
- Be visual — use the table format, make waste obvious
- Don't lecture. Show numbers and let them speak.