The AI coding conversation is finally moving past the fun part.
For a while, the question was simple: can the agent write the code? Now the better question is nastier: why did it need that many tokens to get there?
That sounds like finance. It is not. It is architecture.
When a coding agent burns through a mountain of context, retries, tool calls, and half-correct edits, the bill is only the easiest symptom to measure. The real problem is usually that the system gave the agent too much room to wander and too little structure to finish.
The budget is telling you where the workflow leaks
