📖 使用指南 中等 约 2 分钟阅读

OpenClaw Cost Control Checklist (2026)

2026 控制 OpenClaw API 花费:模型路由、上下文上限、缓存、本地模型与预算告警

V
Victor.Chen
2026年7月26日

Goal: squeeze the token bill down to something predictable — without hurting the experience.

The Checklist (check items off as you go)

Model layer

  • Use a cost-effective default model, not the priciest flagship
  • Hard-problem routing: escalate to a stronger model only when evals fail
  • Handle classification / summarization / intent detection with a small local model

Context layer

  • Compress system prompts and strip repeated policy paragraphs
  • Feed retrieval only top-k relevant chunks — never paste the whole knowledge base
  • Apply a sliding window / summary compression to conversation history

Product layer

  • Fail fast on tool-call errors with a circuit breaker; no endless retry loops burning money
  • Serve repeated questions straight from cache
  • Downgrade the model or switch to read-only mode outside working hours

Finance layer

  • Hard daily/weekly budget caps
  • Alert on abnormal spend (period-over-period >2x)
  • Separate API keys per project for easy attribution

Rules of Thumb

  1. 90% of requests should land on cheap models
  2. Only 10% of requests are worth flagship reasoning
  3. Cost anomalies usually come from an overlong context or a tool loop — not from "more users"

For cheaper Chinese models, see Cheapest Chinese LLM APIs 2026.

Want this set up for you?

Tell us the first job you want automated - join the 14-day setup experiment.

This 14-day experiment

Email is only used to send the pack and a checkout link. No resale. No charge happens on this page.