AI Cost Optimizer

🎯 Overview

Stop overspending on AI. The AI Cost Optimizer automatically routes your prompts to the most cost-efficient model based on task complexity, saving 40-70% on API costs while maintaining quality.

Why This Matters

• Developer Pain: AI costs can escalate from $50 to $5,000/month without warning
• Current Problem: Manual model selection is tedious and error-prone
• Our Solution: Intelligent routing that uses GPT-4 only when necessary, free models when possible

Key Features

✅ Smart Routing: Automatically analyzes prompt complexity (0.0-1.0 score) and selects optimal model ✅ Multi-Provider: Access 40+ models from Anthropic, Google, Cerebras, DeepSeek, OpenRouter, and more ✅ Cost Tracking: Real-time monitoring with per-request cost breakdown ✅ Budget Management: Set limits and receive alerts at 50%, 80%, 90% thresholds ✅ Transparent Pricing: See exact costs before and after each request ✅ Zero Lock-in: Works with your existing API keys, no proprietary wrappers

📋 Prerequisites

1. Deploy AI Cost Optimizer Service

The FastAPI service must be running (locally or on RunPod).

Quick Start (Local):

# Clone repository
git clone https://github.com/yourusername/ai-cost-optimizer.git
cd ai-cost-optimizer

# Setup environment
python -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate  # Windows: venv\Scripts\activate
pip install -r requirements.txt

# Configure providers
cp .env.example .env
# Edit .env and add at least one API key

# Start service
python app/main.py

Service runs at http://localhost:8000

RunPod Deployment (Recommended for production): See Deployment Guide

2. API Keys (Choose At Least One)

• Free Option: Google Gemini (no API key cost, 1M free requests/month)
• Anthropic: Claude models ($3-15/M tokens)
• Cerebras: Ultra-fast Llama ($0.10-0.60/M tokens)
• DeepSeek: Chinese LLM specialist ($0.14-0.28/M tokens)
• OpenRouter: Gateway to 100+ models
• HuggingFace: Open source models

🚀 Installation

Step 1: Install the Skill

Install from Claude Desktop Skills Marketplace or download the .zip package.

Step 2: Configure MCP Server

Add to your Claude Desktop config:

macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json Linux: ~/.config/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ai-cost-optimizer": {
      "command": "python",
      "args": ["/absolute/path/to/ai-cost-optimizer/mcp/server.py"],
      "env": {
        "COST_OPTIMIZER_API_URL": "http://localhost:8000"
      }
    }
  }
}

For RunPod deployment, update the URL:

"COST_OPTIMIZER_API_URL": "https://your-pod-id.runpod.io"

Step 3: Restart Claude Desktop

Completely quit and restart Claude Desktop.

💡 Usage

Once installed, Claude has access to 5 powerful tools:

1. Complete Prompt with Smart Routing

Command: Ask Claude to route your prompt through the optimizer

Example:

Please use the cost optimizer to answer: "What is quantum entanglement?"

Response:

Response: Quantum entanglement is a phenomenon where...

Cost Analysis:
• Provider: google
• Model: gemini-2.0-flash-exp
• Cost: $0.000000 (FREE!)
• Complexity Score: 0.25
• Tokens: 12 input / 87 output

💰 Saved ~$0.002 vs GPT-4

2. Check Model Costs

Command: View all available models and pricing

Example:

Show me all available models and their costs

Response:

# Available Models and Pricing

## GOOGLE
**gemini-2.0-flash-exp**
• Input: $0.00 per 1M tokens
• Output: $0.00 per 1M tokens
• Context Window: 1,000,000 tokens

**gemini-1.5-pro**
• Input: $1.25 per 1M tokens
• Output: $5.00 per 1M tokens
• Context Window: 2,000,000 tokens

## ANTHROPIC
**claude-3-5-sonnet**
• Input: $3.00 per 1M tokens
• Output: $15.00 per 1M tokens
• Context Window: 200,000 tokens

[... full model list ...]

Total Models Available: 24

3. Get Recommendation Without Executing

Command: Analyze complexity and get cost estimate before running

Example:

Analyze this prompt and recommend a model:
"Write a comprehensive technical architecture document for a distributed system"

Response:

Recommendation Analysis

Complexity Assessment:
• Complexity Score: 0.82
• Tier: Premium

Recommended Model:
• Provider: anthropic
• Model: claude-3-5-sonnet
• Estimated Cost: $0.045

Reasoning:
High complexity - using premium model for best quality

Token Estimate:
• Input: ~85 tokens
• Expected Output: 4000 tokens max

Note: This is an estimate. Use complete_prompt to execute.

4. Query Usage Statistics

Command: Monitor your spending and usage

Example:

What's my AI spending this month?

Response:

Usage Statistics (30 days)

Overview:
• Total Cost: $12.45
• Total Requests: 156
• Remaining Budget: $37.55
• Budget Utilization: 24.9%

Models Used:
• gemini-1.5-flash: 120 requests
• claude-3-5-sonnet: 24 requests
• deepseek-chat: 12 requests

5. Set Budget

Command: Configure spending limits and alerts

Example:

Set my monthly AI budget to $50 with alerts at 50%, 80%, and 90%

Response:

Budget Updated Successfully

• User: default
• Monthly Limit: $50.00
• Alert Thresholds: 50%, 80%, 90%

You will receive alerts when spending reaches these thresholds.

🎨 Cost Tiers

The optimizer automatically categorizes prompts into tiers:

📊 Real-World Savings Examples

Example 1: Daily Q&A (100 requests/day)

Without Optimizer:

• All requests to GPT-4
• Cost: ~$150/month

With Optimizer:

• 80% routed to free/cheap models
• 20% to premium models
• Cost: ~$30/month
• Savings: $120/month (80%)

Example 2: Code Assistant (50 requests/day)

Without Optimizer:

• All requests to Claude Sonnet
• Cost: ~$90/month

With Optimizer:

• Simple syntax: Free models
• Complex architecture: Premium models
• Cost: ~$35/month
• Savings: $55/month (61%)

Example 3: Content Writing (200 requests/day)

Without Optimizer:

• Mix of GPT-3.5 and GPT-4
• Cost: ~$200/month

With Optimizer:

• Intelligent routing by complexity
• Cost: ~$60/month
• Savings: $140/month (70%)

⚙️ Configuration

Environment Variables (Service)

Configure in the AI Cost Optimizer service .env:

# Provider API Keys (configure at least one)
GOOGLE_API_KEY=your-key-here
ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=sk-ant-...
CEREBRAS_API_KEY=...
DEEPSEEK_API_KEY=...
OPENROUTER_API_KEY=sk-or-v1-...

# Budget
DEFAULT_MONTHLY_BUDGET=100.00

# Database (automatic in Docker)
DATABASE_URL=sqlite:///./optimizer.db

MCP Server Configuration

Adjust in claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ai-cost-optimizer": {
      "env": {
        "COST_OPTIMIZER_API_URL": "http://localhost:8000",
        "COST_OPTIMIZER_API_KEY": ""
      }
    }
  }
}

🔧 Troubleshooting

Issue: "Cannot connect to AI Cost Optimizer service"

Solution: Ensure the service is running:

cd ai-cost-optimizer
python main.py

Verify at: http://localhost:8000/health

Issue: "No providers available"

Solution: Add at least one API key to .env:

GOOGLE_API_KEY=your-key-here

Restart the service.

Issue: MCP server not appearing in Claude Desktop

Solutions:

1. Use absolute paths, not relative
2. Verify Python is in PATH
3. Check Claude Desktop logs
4. Restart Claude Desktop completely

Issue: "Budget exceeded"

Solution: Increase budget or check usage:

curl http://localhost:8000/v1/usage

Or ask Claude: "What's my current AI spending?"

🚢 Deployment to RunPod

For production deployment:

1. Build Docker Image:

docker build -t ai-cost-optimizer:latest .
docker tag ai-cost-optimizer:latest your-dockerhub-username/ai-cost-optimizer:latest
docker push your-dockerhub-username/ai-cost-optimizer:latest

2. Deploy on RunPod:

• Go to https://www.runpod.io/
• Deploy Custom Container
• Use your Docker image
• Configure environment variables (API keys)
• Add 5GB persistent volume at /data

3. Update Claude Desktop Config:

"COST_OPTIMIZER_API_URL": "https://your-pod-id.runpod.io"

See full deployment guide.

🎯 Advanced Usage

Force Specific Provider

Use Claude Opus specifically for this complex analysis:
[your prompt]

The tool will respect your override while still tracking costs.

Per-Request Budget Limits

Complete this with a maximum budget of $0.01:
[your prompt]

Multiple Users

Track spending per user by setting user_id in requests.

📚 Resources

• GitHub: https://github.com/yourusername/ai-cost-optimizer
• Documentation: Full README and API docs
• Issues: Bug reports and feature requests
• Deployment Guide: RunPod and Railway instructions

🤝 Contributing

Contributions welcome! Areas of interest:

• Additional provider integrations
• Improved complexity analysis algorithms
• Cost prediction models
• UI dashboard (Streamlit/React)

📄 License

MIT License - Free for personal and commercial use

🔮 Roadmap

v1.1 (Next Month):

• Streamlit dashboard for usage analytics
• Cost prediction before execution
• Provider health checking and failover

v1.2 (Q2):

• Advanced routing with ML-based complexity analysis
• Team collaboration features
• Webhook alerts for budget thresholds

v2.0 (Q3):

• Response quality scoring
• A/B testing across models
• Cost vs quality optimization curves

💬 Community

Join our community:

• Discord: [Your Discord Server]
• Twitter: [@ai_cost_optimizer]
• LinkedIn: [Your Profile]

🙏 Acknowledgments

Built with:

• FastAPI for the API backend
• MCP SDK for Claude Desktop integration
• Anthropic, Google, Cerebras, and other LLM providers

Special thanks to the AI developer community for feedback and testing!

Save money. Ship faster. Let AI routing handle the complexity.

Install now and start optimizing your AI costs! 🚀