Cost Budget Check

Reads cost-tracking:budget-config for the project's budget limit, sums total_cost_usd across session-* records produced by cost-track, computes utilization, and emits the measured 4-tier alert ladder (50% INFO / 75% WARNING / 90% CRITICAL / 100% HARD_STOP).

Until P2 (this skill) landed, the README documented the alert ladder but no code checked it. Now this skill is the gate.

When to use

• After every cost-track run, to surface the alert level.
• Before spawning a swarm — if utilization ≥ 90%, escalate to /cost-optimize first.
• Cron-friendly via /loop 30m for continuous monitoring.

Steps

1. Run the check:

   node plugins/ruflo-cost-tracker/scripts/budget.mjs check
   

   Filter by period: BUDGET_PERIOD=today (default all). Use BUDGET_QUIET=1 for machine-readable JSON.

2. Inspect the markdown summary — budget, spent, remaining, utilization percentage, alert level (🟢 OK · 🟡 INFO · 🟠 WARNING · 🔴 CRITICAL · 🛑 HARD_STOP), and the recommended action.

3. Set / inspect the budget:

   node plugins/ruflo-cost-tracker/scripts/budget.mjs set 50.00
   node plugins/ruflo-cost-tracker/scripts/budget.mjs get
   

4. HARD_STOP path — budget.mjs check exits with code 1 when utilization ≥ 100%. Wrap critical agent spawns in a budget.mjs check && spawn … guard to fail closed.

Storage shape (cost-tracking:budget-config)

{
  "budget_usd": 50.00,
  "setAt": "2026-05-05T...",
  "thresholds": { "info": 0.50, "warning": 0.75, "critical": 0.90, "hard_stop": 1.00 }
}

Alert ladder (from REFERENCE.md, now enforced)

Threshold	Level	Action
50%	INFO 🟡	log notification, no UX disruption
75%	WARNING 🟠	display warning, suggest /cost-optimize
90%	CRITICAL 🔴	urgent alert, recommend model downgrades
100%	HARD_STOP 🛑	halt non-essential spawns; exit code 1

Cross-references

• cost-track (producer) — populates cost-tracking:session-*
• cost-report — same data source, narrative format
• cost-optimize — recommended action when WARNING/CRITICAL
• REFERENCE.md "Budget alert thresholds" — the documented ladder this enforces