docs: add api usage and costs overview
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Peter Steinberger
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docs/reference/api-usage-costs.md
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docs/reference/api-usage-costs.md
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---
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summary: "Audit what can spend money, which keys are used, and how to view usage"
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read_when:
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- You want to understand which features may call paid APIs
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- You need to audit keys, costs, and usage visibility
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- You’re explaining /status or /usage cost reporting
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---
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# API usage & costs
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This doc lists **features that can invoke API keys** and where their costs show up. It focuses on
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Clawdbot features that can generate provider usage or paid API calls.
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## Where costs show up (chat + CLI)
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**Per-session cost snapshot**
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- `/status` shows the current session model, context usage, and last response tokens.
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- If the model uses **API-key auth**, `/status` also shows **estimated cost** for the last reply.
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**Per-message cost footer**
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- `/usage full` appends a usage footer to every reply, including **estimated cost** (API-key only).
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- `/usage tokens` shows tokens only; OAuth flows hide dollar cost.
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**CLI usage windows (provider quotas)**
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- `clawdbot status --usage` and `clawdbot channels list` show provider **usage windows**
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(quota snapshots, not per-message costs).
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See [Token use & costs](/token-use) for details and examples.
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## How keys are discovered
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Clawdbot can pick up credentials from:
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- **Auth profiles** (per-agent, stored in `auth-profiles.json`).
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- **Environment variables** (e.g. `OPENAI_API_KEY`, `BRAVE_API_KEY`, `FIRECRAWL_API_KEY`).
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- **Config** (`models.providers.*.apiKey`, `tools.web.search.*`, `tools.web.fetch.firecrawl.*`,
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`memorySearch.*`, `talk.apiKey`).
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- **Skills** (`skills.entries.<name>.apiKey`) which may export keys to the skill process env.
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## Features that can spend keys
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### 1) Core model responses (chat + tools)
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Every reply or tool call uses the **current model provider** (OpenAI, Anthropic, etc). This is the
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primary source of usage and cost.
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See [Models](/providers/models) for pricing config and [Token use & costs](/token-use) for display.
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### 2) Media understanding (audio/image/video)
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Inbound media can be summarized/transcribed before the reply runs. This uses model/provider APIs.
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- Audio: OpenAI / Groq / Deepgram (now **auto-enabled** when keys exist).
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- Image: OpenAI / Anthropic / Google.
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- Video: Google.
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See [Media understanding](/nodes/media-understanding).
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### 3) Memory embeddings + semantic search
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Semantic memory search uses **embedding APIs** when configured for remote providers:
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- `memorySearch.provider = "openai"` → OpenAI embeddings
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- `memorySearch.provider = "gemini"` → Gemini embeddings
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- Optional fallback to OpenAI if local embeddings fail
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You can keep it local with `memorySearch.provider = "local"` (no API usage).
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See [Memory](/concepts/memory).
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### 4) Web search tool (Brave / Perplexity via OpenRouter)
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`web_search` uses API keys and may incur usage charges:
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- **Brave Search API**: `BRAVE_API_KEY` or `tools.web.search.apiKey`
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- **Perplexity** (via OpenRouter): `PERPLEXITY_API_KEY` or `OPENROUTER_API_KEY`
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**Brave free tier (generous):**
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- **2,000 requests/month**
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- **1 request/second**
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- **Credit card required** for verification (no charge unless you upgrade)
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See [Web tools](/tools/web).
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### 5) Web fetch tool (Firecrawl)
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`web_fetch` can call **Firecrawl** when an API key is present:
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- `FIRECRAWL_API_KEY` or `tools.web.fetch.firecrawl.apiKey`
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If Firecrawl isn’t configured, the tool falls back to direct fetch + readability (no paid API).
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See [Web tools](/tools/web).
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### 6) Provider usage snapshots (status/health)
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Some status commands call **provider usage endpoints** to display quota windows or auth health.
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These are typically low-volume calls but still hit provider APIs:
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- `clawdbot status --usage`
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- `clawdbot models status --json`
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See [Models CLI](/cli/models).
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### 7) Compaction safeguard summarization
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The compaction safeguard can summarize session history using the **current model**, which
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invokes provider APIs when it runs.
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See [Session management + compaction](/reference/session-management-compaction).
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### 8) Model scan / probe
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`clawdbot models scan` can probe OpenRouter models and uses `OPENROUTER_API_KEY` when
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probing is enabled.
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See [Models CLI](/cli/models).
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### 9) Talk (speech)
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Talk mode can invoke **ElevenLabs** when configured:
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- `ELEVENLABS_API_KEY` or `talk.apiKey`
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See [Talk mode](/nodes/talk).
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### 10) Skills (third-party APIs)
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Skills can store `apiKey` in `skills.entries.<name>.apiKey`. If a skill uses that key for external
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APIs, it can incur costs according to the skill’s provider.
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See [Skills](/tools/skills).
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