Suppose the metrics are in place, each task has the model it actually needs, and every feature has its own client — that was Part 1. The next thing to look at is what those clients send and receive.
This part is about controls for output token generation, chat memory and static input tokens.
Driver #3 — Output and reasoning tokens: the expensive direction
Driver #4 — Conversation history: you pay for the whole chat, every turn
Driver #5 — Repeated static content: paying full price for the same tokens
