---
name: Paleo Budget
slug: paleo-budget
category: AI Engineering
description: Enforces a hard token budget per task/response by tracking estimates, stopping before limits, and summarizing if exceeded. Helps when users specify a token cap or want to limit spending.
github: "https://github.com/mocasus/paleo/tree/main/skills/paleo-budget"
language: Python
stars: 11
forks: 0
install: "git clone https://github.com/mocasus/paleo"
added: 2026-07-16T13:43:27.463Z
last_synced: 2026-07-17T07:10:02.936Z
canonical_url: "https://dirskills.com/skills/paleo-budget"
---

# Paleo Budget

Enforces a hard token budget per task/response by tracking estimates, stopping before limits, and summarizing if exceeded. Helps when users specify a token cap or want to limit spending.

**Install:** `git clone https://github.com/mocasus/paleo`

## README

# paleo-budget
Hard token budget per task. Cap spend, never overflow.

## Rules
- Set budget up front: "budget 2000" = max ~2000 out-tokens for the whole task.
- Estimate before writing: rough tok ≈ chars / 4. Track running count.
- Stop at ~90% budget. If answer incomplete, summarize remainder in bullets.
- Tight budget → pair with `paleo` (terse). budget + paleo = max save.
- Code/commands stay exact — budget hits prose, not correctness.

## Levels
- `soft`: warn near limit, keep going.
- `hard` (default): cut off at limit, summarize the tail.
- `strict`: fail-loud if estimate exceeds budget before starting.

## Switch
- `/budget 1500 soft|hard|strict` set cap + mode.
- "no budget" / "unlimited" → off.

## Gotchas
- Token estimate is approximate (chars/4). Leave 10% headroom.
- Never truncate the critical part of the answer — summarize instead.
- Budget = output cap. Input/context not counted unless user says "total".