How to Manage Claude Tokens
◇ Advanced Techniques
Monitoring spend
You can't optimize what you don't measure
Every API response includes token counts in the usage field — log these from day one.
What to track
- Input tokens per request
- Output tokens per request
- Cache read/write tokens (if using prompt caching)
- Cost per request, per user, per feature
Useful fields: response.usage.input_tokens, response.usage.output_tokens, response.usage.cache_read_input_tokens.
Tools
Airtable + n8n for lightweight logging, PostHog or Mixpanel for product analytics. The Anthropic console also shows usage dashboards at the account level.
operator note
Set spend alerts in the Anthropic console. A runaway prompt can spike costs fast — alerts give you time to catch it before it becomes a real bill.
Changelog · 1
- Initial release — 5 sections, 11 lessons.