token-budget-gate

token-budget-gate — Pre-Task Token Cost Gate

Multi-step and multi-agent tasks can silently consume large token budgets. This skill estimates cost before execution, outputs a gate verdict, and calibrates estimates against actual usage after completion — preventing surprise overruns without blocking legitimate work.

FH context: FH default execution tier is standard (~15K tokens). This skill gates against accidental full (~30K) or max (~60K+) consumption on tasks that could be handled lighter.

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Triggers

• /token-budget-gate
• "token budget", "token cost", "how expensive", "will this use a lot of tokens"
• "estimate tokens", "token estimate before we start"
• Before invoking: agent-composer, sim-conductor, steel-quench (max-tier skills)
• Automatically proposed when task description contains: multi-agent, parallel dispatch, full suite, all files, entire codebase

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Gate Thresholds (defaults — user-configurable)

Signal	Verdict	Action
Estimated < 10K tokens	🟢 GREEN	Proceed without comment
10K–30K tokens	🟡 YELLOW	Proceed with notice — suggest lighter approach if one exists
30K–60K tokens	🟠 ORANGE	Confirm before proceeding — present scope reduction options
> 60K tokens	🔴 RED	Block + require explicit approval — present mandatory reduction

Custom threshold: user can set TOKEN_BUDGET_MAX=N in conversation or .claude/settings.json.

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Execution Steps

Step 1. Parse Task Description

Extract task dimensions:

Dimension	Low (×1)	Medium (×2)	High (×4)
File scope	1–3 files	4–10 files	11+ files / whole codebase
Agent count	0 (inline)	1–2 agents	3+ agents / parallel
Step depth	1–3 steps	4–8 steps	9+ steps
Iteration	None	1 round	2+ rounds (wave/loop)
Output size	Short answer	Medium doc	Full report / deck

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Step 2. Estimate Token Cost

Base estimates per task type:

Task Type	Base Estimate	Notes
Single file edit	2K	Read + edit + verify
Code review (1 PR)	5K	Diff + analysis + comments
Skill creation (1 SKILL.md)	8K	Design + write + CATALOG update
Agent dispatch (1 agent)	10K	Context card + agent overhead
Parallel dispatch (3 agents)	25K	3× agent + orchestration
sim-conductor full run	30K	All 5 simulation axes
steel-quench 4-wave	50K	All waves + prescriptions
Full harvest-loop cycle	40K	8-step pipeline + PRs

Apply dimension multipliers from Step 1 to the base estimate.

Final formula:

Estimated = base × file_multiplier × agent_multiplier × iteration_multiplier

Round to nearest 1K.

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Step 3. Output Gate Verdict

## Token Budget Gate

Task: {one-line task description}
Estimated cost: ~{N}K tokens
Threshold: {user max or default}

Verdict: 🟡 YELLOW — within budget but consider lighter approach

Breakdown:
  Base (skill creation): 8K
  × 2 agents: ×2 = 16K
  × 1 iteration: ×1 = 16K
  Total: ~16K

Lighter alternative:
  → Inline (no agent dispatch): ~8K (-50%)
  → Single agent, not parallel: ~12K (-25%)

Proceed? (y to continue / n to adjust scope)

For 🟢 GREEN: output one line only — "Token estimate: ~{N}K — GREEN, proceeding."

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Step 4. Proceed / Adjust

• GREEN / YELLOW + user confirms: proceed, note start marker
• ORANGE: present scope reduction table, wait for user selection
• RED: present mandatory reduction — do not proceed until user explicitly approves

Scope reduction options table (ORANGE/RED):

Option	Reduction	Trade-off
Drop parallel → sequential	-30%	Slower, same quality
Reduce agent count (3→1)	-50%	Less parallelism
Narrow file scope	-40%	Shallower coverage
Use lighter skill variant	-60%	Fewer waves/probes
Split into 2 sessions	-50%/session	No quality loss

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Step 5. Post-Task Calibration (optional)

After task completion, if user says "how much did that cost" or "calibrate":

## Calibration

Estimated: ~16K tokens
Actual: ~{actual}K tokens
Error: {+/-N}%

Calibration note saved → improves next estimate for this task type.

Write calibration data:

mkdir -p .claude/token_calibration/
# Append: task_type, estimated, actual, date

Calibration data improves future estimates for the same task type (no model training — local record only).

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Done When

• Gate verdict output (GREEN/YELLOW/ORANGE/RED) with estimated cost breakdown
• For ORANGE/RED: scope reduction options presented and user decision recorded
• Calibration offered after task completion (optional, not mandatory)

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Chains

Upstream (proposed before these skills):

• → agent-composer (multi-agent orchestration)
• → sim-conductor (5-axis simulation)
• → steel-quench (4-wave adversarial review)
• → harvest-loop (8-step pipeline)

Downstream:

• No mandatory chain — gate verdict is the output; task execution follows user decision