Cost & PricingContext Bloat: Paying Repeatedly for Tokens Nobody Reads
Every token added to a prompt is billed on that call and every call after it. Where bloat accumulates and what it actually costs to leave it there.
ReadNotes on models, agents, and what inference costs
Practical writing for developers building with large language models — how they work, how to pick one, and how to keep the bill predictable.
Cost & Pricing
AI AgentsContext Compaction: Keeping Agents Alive Past Turn Twenty
Agent transcripts grow until quality degrades and cost climbs. What to summarise, what to drop, and what must never be compacted away.
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FundamentalsContext Length vs Effective Context: The Number You Can Use
A model advertising a one-million-token window does not reliably use one million tokens. The gap between the spec sheet and what actually works.
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ModelsContext Windows Compared: Input, Output and What It Costs
Filling a million-token window costs between fourteen cents and three dollars depending on the model. The full comparison, including output ceilings.
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FundamentalsContinuous Batching: How Servers Keep GPUs Busy
Continuous batching lets finished requests leave a batch and new ones join mid-flight. It is why modern inference servers hold high load without stalling.
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Cost & PricingCost Per 1K Lines of Code: A Tempting, Mostly Bad Metric
Lines of code is the easiest denominator for AI spend and one of the worst. Where it misleads, where it genuinely works, and what to measure instead.
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Cost & PricingCost Per Agent Run: Why Input Dominates the Bill
Agent costs are driven by resent transcript, not generated output. Working out what one run actually costs and which lever moves it.
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Cost & PricingCost Per Code Review: What Automated Review Actually Costs
Automated review looks cheap per pull request until you count re-reviews, large diffs and false positives. Working out the real per-review figure.
ReadCost & PricingCost Per Refactor: Estimating a Multi-File Change Up Front
Refactors are the worst case for context bloat because every touched file must stay in view. A method for estimating the bill before you start the run.
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Cost & PricingCost Per Test Suite: Writing Tests Versus Fixing Them
Generating tests with a model is cheap and bounded. Making a red suite green is neither. How the two costs differ and how to put a ceiling on the expensive one.
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ModelsCost-Adjusted Model Scoring: Ranking by Value, Not Capability
Capability leaderboards ignore price entirely. How to build a score that reflects what a model costs to run on your workload, and where it misleads.
ReadAI AgentsCritic Agent Patterns: Useful Review Without Endless Rewrites
A critic agent reviews work another agent produced. The patterns that improve output, the ones that just add cost, and how to tell them apart.
ReadShowing 85–96 of 404 articles