TokenLab Cost Routing
Use this skill when a user asks how to reduce TokenLab cost, compare model prices, pick fallbacks, or route requests by quality, latency, and budget.
What this skill should deliver
- A compact routing recommendation with exact public TokenLab model IDs.
- A cost-aware fallback chain for the user's workload.
- A catalog/pricing lookup path that can be rerun.
- A note on which endpoint family each model should use.
- Guardrails for when not to switch models because doing so would change output, safety, or request semantics.
Preferred approach
- Identify the workload and constraints:
- chat, coding, agent loop, image, video, audio, embedding, rerank, translation, or multimodal
- quality floor
- latency target
- budget or cost ceiling
- native endpoint requirement
- Read live public catalog signals before recommending:
GET https://api.tokenlab.sh/v1/modelsGET https://api.tokenlab.sh/v1/models?recommended_for=<scene>GET https://api.tokenlab.sh/v1/models/:modelGET https://api.tokenlab.sh/v1/models/:model/pricing
- Build a chain with roles:
- primary quality model
- balanced default
- fast fallback
- budget fallback
- If the user asks for exact cost, compute from live pricing and their estimated token/media volume. State units and assumptions.
- For non-chat requests, inspect model details before changing parameters or endpoint family.
Output format
- One sentence stating workload and assumptions.
- A table with
Route role,Model ID,Endpoint,Why, andWhen to fall back. - One catalog command and one pricing command.
- A short implementation note for retries, rate limits, and user approval when quality would drop.
Avoid
- Do not invent prices, discounts, or model counts.
- Do not choose a cheaper model if that would silently remove required native behavior, tools, media support, safety constraints, or structured output guarantees.
- Do not expose TokenLab internal channel, physical provider, or routing details.
- Do not turn a user-provided model into a different model without saying why.
- Do not hardcode a fallback list without saying when it was checked or how to refresh it.
Edge Cases
- If catalog or pricing endpoints are unavailable, say that routing cannot be price-verified and provide only an example pattern.
- If the user asks for "cheapest", include capability and reliability tradeoffs.
- If billing risk is high, require explicit user approval before adding automatic fallback to paid media/video generation.