Keep AI Costs Low
Practical strategies to reduce token usage and API spend
Why costs add up
Every message to an AI agent sends your entire conversation context. Longer conversations = more tokens = higher costs.
Cost reduction strategies
1. Start fresh for new tasks
Don't reuse a long conversation for unrelated tasks. Open a new chat to reset context.
2. Write good CLAUDE.md
A clear CLAUDE.md eliminates back-and-forth questions. Agents that understand your project on the first try cost less. Use claude /init to generate one automatically.
3. Be specific in prompts
Bad: "Fix the bug"
Good: "Fix the null pointer in src/auth.js line 42 where user.email is accessed before checking if user exists"
4. Use smaller models for simple tasks
Both Claude and Cursor let you select models. Use faster/cheaper models for straightforward tasks (rename, format, simple edits).
5. Batch related changes
Instead of 5 separate requests, describe all 5 changes in one message. The agent processes them together with shared context.
6. Use .claudeignore and .cursorignore
Exclude large files, build artifacts, and node_modules from agent context:
node_modules/ dist/ *.min.js
7. Monitor usage
Check your cost dashboard regularly. See the "Check Your AI Costs" tutorial for exact URLs and steps.