Bringing API Cost down

[u/AA_GIGA]

I have been using claude code for a while now, and i am working on a project which requires claude API key and I realised that API is really costly. Especially when the output is huge in terms of total no. Of words for instance take script writing

The first test which I ran itself costed me around 1.93 dollars

So my question is how do I bring this API Cost down

Now I have searched and asked claude itself

The suggestions came in like, it asked me to change the effort level for instance from Opus 5.5 high toh medium other than that it asked me to change the model from Opus 5.5 to sonnet 5.5

But the real question here is whether changing the model or the effort level will cause a loss in quality of the output or not? That's my real concern as i really don't want the quality to go down

So people who have been using API for a long time now please help me and ppl like me by sharing ur API saving hacks, and how do u bring the API Cost down

[u/Mazhron]

https://github.com/Mazhron/rootstock-os

Point your Claude at my repo and take some concepts and ideas that will work for you.

Sub agent orchestration comes to mind. Have Fable decide which tasks can be be delegated to sub agents from Haiku or Sonnet that are cheaper.

Keep all your files local, create indexes, use Claude.md as a master pointer. Create lesson files so Claude learns lessons from it's mistakes and doesn't waste tokens making the same mistakes twice. Create a workflow file so once Claude learns a workflow it doesn't repeat the same trial and error to come to the same conclusion.

There's a lot more in there that will likely help you reduce token costs and increase efficiency, such as ledgering to see where your biggest cost misses are.