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langchain-cost-tuning

Optimize LangChain API costs with token tracking, model tiering, caching, prompt compression, and budget enforcement. Trigger: "langchain cost", "langchain tokens", "reduce langchain cost", "langchain billing", "langchain budget", "token optimization".

84

Quality

82%

Does it follow best practices?

Impact

Pending

No eval scenarios have been run

SecuritybySnyk

Passed

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SKILL.md
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LangChain Cost Tuning

Overview

Reduce LLM API costs while maintaining quality: token tracking callbacks, model tiering (route simple tasks to cheap models), caching for duplicate queries, prompt compression, and budget enforcement.

Current Pricing Reference (2026)

ProviderModelInput $/1MOutput $/1M
OpenAIgpt-4o$2.50$10.00
OpenAIgpt-4o-mini$0.15$0.60
Anthropicclaude-sonnet$3.00$15.00
Anthropicclaude-haiku$0.25$1.25
OpenAItext-embedding-3-small$0.02-

Strategy 1: Token Usage Tracking

import { BaseCallbackHandler } from "@langchain/core/callbacks/base";

const MODEL_PRICING: Record<string, { input: number; output: number }> = {
  "gpt-4o": { input: 2.5, output: 10.0 },
  "gpt-4o-mini": { input: 0.15, output: 0.6 },
};

class CostTracker extends BaseCallbackHandler {
  name = "CostTracker";
  totalCost = 0;
  totalTokens = 0;
  calls = 0;

  handleLLMEnd(output: any) {
    this.calls++;
    const usage = output.llmOutput?.tokenUsage;
    if (!usage) return;

    const model = "gpt-4o-mini"; // extract from output metadata
    const pricing = MODEL_PRICING[model] ?? MODEL_PRICING["gpt-4o-mini"];

    const inputCost = (usage.promptTokens / 1_000_000) * pricing.input;
    const outputCost = (usage.completionTokens / 1_000_000) * pricing.output;

    this.totalTokens += usage.totalTokens;
    this.totalCost += inputCost + outputCost;
  }

  report() {
    return {
      calls: this.calls,
      totalTokens: this.totalTokens,
      totalCost: `$${this.totalCost.toFixed(4)}`,
      avgCostPerCall: `$${(this.totalCost / Math.max(this.calls, 1)).toFixed(4)}`,
    };
  }
}

const tracker = new CostTracker();
const model = new ChatOpenAI({
  model: "gpt-4o-mini",
  callbacks: [tracker],
});

// After operations:
console.table(tracker.report());

Strategy 2: Model Tiering (Route by Complexity)

import { ChatOpenAI } from "@langchain/openai";
import { RunnableBranch } from "@langchain/core/runnables";
import { ChatPromptTemplate } from "@langchain/core/prompts";
import { StringOutputParser } from "@langchain/core/output_parsers";

const cheapModel = new ChatOpenAI({ model: "gpt-4o-mini" });   // $0.15/1M in
const powerModel = new ChatOpenAI({ model: "gpt-4o" });         // $2.50/1M in

const simplePrompt = ChatPromptTemplate.fromTemplate("{input}");
const complexPrompt = ChatPromptTemplate.fromTemplate(
  "Think step by step. {input}"
);

function isComplex(input: { input: string }): boolean {
  const text = input.input;
  // Heuristic: long input, requires reasoning, or multi-step
  return (
    text.length > 500 ||
    /\b(analyze|compare|evaluate|design|architect)\b/i.test(text)
  );
}

const router = RunnableBranch.from([
  [isComplex, complexPrompt.pipe(powerModel).pipe(new StringOutputParser())],
  simplePrompt.pipe(cheapModel).pipe(new StringOutputParser()),
]);

// Simple question -> gpt-4o-mini ($0.15/1M)
await router.invoke({ input: "What is 2+2?" });

// Complex question -> gpt-4o ($2.50/1M)
await router.invoke({ input: "Analyze the trade-offs between microservices..." });

Strategy 3: Caching (Eliminate Duplicate Calls)

# Python — LangChain has built-in caching
from langchain_openai import ChatOpenAI
from langchain_core.globals import set_llm_cache
from langchain_community.cache import SQLiteCache

# Persistent cache — identical prompts skip the API entirely
set_llm_cache(SQLiteCache(database_path=".langchain_cache.db"))

llm = ChatOpenAI(model="gpt-4o-mini")

# First call: API hit (~500ms, costs tokens)
llm.invoke("What is LCEL?")

# Second identical call: cache hit (~0ms, $0.00)
llm.invoke("What is LCEL?")
// TypeScript — manual cache with Map
const cache = new Map<string, string>();

async function cachedInvoke(chain: any, input: Record<string, any>) {
  const key = JSON.stringify(input);
  if (cache.has(key)) return cache.get(key)!;

  const result = await chain.invoke(input);
  cache.set(key, result);
  return result;
}

Strategy 4: Prompt Compression

// Shorter prompts = fewer input tokens = lower cost
// Before: 150 tokens
const verbose = ChatPromptTemplate.fromTemplate(`
You are an expert AI assistant specialized in software engineering.
Your task is to carefully analyze the following text and provide
a comprehensive summary that captures all the key points and
important details. Please ensure your summary is accurate and well-structured.

Text to summarize: {text}

Please provide your summary below:
`);

// After: 25 tokens (same quality with good models)
const concise = ChatPromptTemplate.fromTemplate(
  "Summarize the key points:\n\n{text}"
);

Strategy 5: Budget Enforcement

class BudgetEnforcer extends BaseCallbackHandler {
  name = "BudgetEnforcer";
  private spent = 0;

  constructor(private budgetUSD: number) {
    super();
  }

  handleLLMStart() {
    if (this.spent >= this.budgetUSD) {
      throw new Error(
        `Budget exceeded: $${this.spent.toFixed(2)} / $${this.budgetUSD}`
      );
    }
  }

  handleLLMEnd(output: any) {
    const usage = output.llmOutput?.tokenUsage;
    if (usage) {
      // Estimate cost (adjust per model)
      this.spent += (usage.totalTokens / 1_000_000) * 0.60;
    }
  }

  remaining() {
    return `$${(this.budgetUSD - this.spent).toFixed(2)} remaining`;
  }
}

const budget = new BudgetEnforcer(10.0); // $10 daily budget
const model = new ChatOpenAI({
  model: "gpt-4o-mini",
  callbacks: [budget],
});

Cost Optimization Checklist

OptimizationSavingsEffort
Use gpt-4o-mini instead of gpt-4o~17x cheaperLow
Cache identical requests100% on cache hitsLow
Shorten prompts10-50%Medium
Model tiering (route by complexity)50-80%Medium
Batch processing (fewer round-trips)10-20%Low
Budget enforcementPrevents surprisesLow

Error Handling

IssueCauseFix
Budget exceeded errorDaily limit hitIncrease budget or optimize usage
Cache missesInput varies slightlyNormalize inputs before caching
Wrong model selectedRouting logic too simpleImprove complexity classifier

Resources

  • OpenAI Pricing
  • Anthropic Pricing
  • LangChain Caching

Next Steps

Use langchain-performance-tuning to optimize latency alongside cost.

Repository
jeremylongshore/claude-code-plugins-plus-skills
Last updated
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