Claude Code spend, read from Grafana or Datadog
The cheaper model isn't always cheaper.
Mycroft reads the Claude Code metrics you already send to Grafana or Datadog, prices every token with the prompt cache counted, and tells you which changes would actually pay.
MYCROFT Anthropic usage - 1-28 August 2026 ============================================== WHAT IT COST $18,412.60 at list prices by request kind $12,907.41 70.1% main $3,871.22 21.0% auxiliary $1,633.97 8.9% subagent ---------------------------------------------- FINDING 2 21.0% of spend is the agent's own housekeeping, on claude-opus-5 ---------------------------------------------- No cache on claude-opus-5 for this traffic, so moving it to claude-haiku-4-5 costs nothing to switch. At most $3,096.98 over this period It is a ceiling, not a saving.
Switching models throws away the prompt cache.
On a typical agent step, the first request after moving from Sonnet 4.6 to Haiku 4.5 costs 3.9 times what staying would have. Haiku earns that back by the sixth request. Alternate between them and neither cache ever warms.
A Mycroft report checks the cache before it suggests any model change.
- $0.045
- a request on Sonnet 4.6, cache already warm
- $0.177
- the first request on Haiku 4.5, paying to write its cache
- $0.015
- each request after that, once Haiku's cache is warm
- $0.426
- a request if you alternate, so neither cache is ever warm
Each finding shows its arithmetic, and what it can't see.
Finding 2 from the sample report, with a reviewer's notes.
FINDING 2 21.0% of spend is the agent's own housekeeping, on claude-opus-5 What your metrics backend shows - No cache on claude-opus-5 for this traffic, so moving it to claude-haiku-4-5 costs nothing to switch and saves $3,096.98 over this period. At most $3,096.98 over this period It is a ceiling, not a saving - see below. What your metrics backend cannot tell you - Whether your agent lets you choose a model for this traffic separately from the main one.
- Priced by kind of request.
Claude Code labels each request as someone's work, a subagent, or its own background calls. Mycroft prices each kind separately.
- The cache is checked first.
This traffic has no cache to lose, so the switch costs nothing. Where it does, the finding says how many requests it takes to earn back.
- A ceiling, never a promise.
Every dollar figure is an upper limit on your own totals at published prices.
- What the data can't show is printed.
Each finding ends with the question only your team can answer, instead of a guess.
One read-only credential, then a report.
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You create one credential that can only read metrics.
You make it, you scope it, you can revoke it. Mycroft never gets write access to anything.
- Grafana Cloud
- Access policy token, scope
metrics:read, on one stack - Datadog
- Application key, scopes
metrics_readandtimeseries_query
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Mycroft checks what your telemetry can answer.
Before it reads any usage, it lists the labels it found and what each missing one costs you. A gap becomes a stated limit, not a quiet error.
[OK] Token counts claude_code.token.usage [OK] Input/output split type [OK] Model names model [OK] Cache split cacheRead, cacheCreation [OK] Developer identity user.email [--] Repository Spend cannot be attached to a codebase, so the question 'is this where our work is meant to be?' goes unanswered. [OK] Request segments query_source, effort [OK] Reported cost claude_code.cost.usage
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We send the report. A month later, what moved.
The next report compares two equal windows: findings that appeared, findings that stopped, and how each ceiling moved. It never calls a smaller month a saving.
SINCE LAST TIME Comparing 2026-08-29 to 2026-09-25 against 2026-08-01 to 2026-08-28. $16,920.34 against $18,412.60 - $1,492.26 less, 8%. No longer firing - 21.0% of spend is the agent's own housekeeping, on claude-opus-5
It reads daily totals. Nothing it could change.
- 19
- models priced, from Anthropic, OpenAI and Google
- 31 days
- after the last price check, Mycroft refuses to print a report
- 1
- read-only credential, which you can revoke at any time
- 0
- prompts, responses, files or logs read
Reads
- Daily token counts by model and type: input, output, cache reads, cache writes
- The developer and request labels Claude Code attaches to them
- Your backend's own cost figure, to check the arithmetic against
Never touches
- Prompts, responses or code
- Logs, traces or files
- Anything it could change
Five design partners get a free report on their last two weeks.
Mycroft is early. If your team runs Claude Code and sends its telemetry to Grafana or Datadog, or could, write in and we will set it up with you.
or write to hello@mycroftcompute.com