## Usage: one meter, and spend what expires

- **Before any big delegated job, run `meter.py`.** It's about 14 lines, no model call, no
  network. Never scan transcripts or logs to work out usage; that costs the tokens it measures.
- When I read `/usage` or an account page, record it: `meter.py --read <bucket> <pct>`. A human
  reading is the only ground truth for plans that hide their percentage.
- **Unused capacity expires.** When a window is near its reset with room left, spend it on
  purpose: the queue of problems the cheaper agents already failed goes first.
- **Don't hoard an expiring bucket.** Send it the work it does best, and move everything else
  to another agent.
- **Size burn-off jobs for the budget:** two problems per agent, and write the first file early.
  An agent that reads everything first can be cut off with nothing written.
- **Respect the stop lines** in the meter. A self-imposed stop is a decision, not an error.
- **After a failed worker call, assume less headroom than the meter shows.** Failures are billed
  but often not logged.