Coding Session Costs: Hidden Overhead Dominates Token Usage
entelligenceai17 · reddit · 2026-08-23
Analyzing longer AI coding sessions, the author found that most token usage isn't the final code. Context, tool output, reasoning, and retries add up quickly. Common cost-cutting measures like reducing context or output can be counterproductive, leading to expensive retries that outweigh savings. A breakdown of the biggest cost drivers and what is actually worth optimizing is provided.
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