Budgeting 'free' Adapters

[FlorianHeigl]

Hi,

I'm really confused!

I have tried with the opencode adapter (from holycode, paperclip from there as well) and now also with the ollama adapter (paperclip-ollama-adapter) and I'm able to set up budget constraints for my agents, give them different caps, but I cannot not set any cost anywhere. I suppose this is normally relayed by the API providers?

Still, a per-minute or similar rate must be calculated internally in paperclip so I'm wondering why I can't find where to set that number manually.

some background:
I'm running an ollama server (ollama-mi50) and want to add the pricing based off the electricity cost and some random crap for annual devaluation.
That way I can make sure to be able to have budget-concsious token caps and later when such features are added, also use the day/night power schedulers (i.e. via cheaper nighttime rates or alternatively daytime solar), and - probably more useful if i'm being all too honest - it'll allow routing low quality/low effort work to a different host with an integrated GPU where the watt/token is better.

and tbh we're having a heat wave ahead, I might even need to account based on BTU wasted instead of just electrictity, then I can stay under the room's thermal cap.

[Etogerman]

You're not missing a setting. On current master, Paperclip does not calculate an internal per-minute price.

The only enforceable budget metric is currently billed_cents, and the heartbeat ledger expects the adapter to provide costUsd. If an adapter reports token usage without a cost, Paperclip marks the event as unpriced and records zero cost, so it cannot consume a dollar budget.

For a self-hosted Ollama adapter, the clean solution is to calculate the cost inside the adapter and return it with the execution result:

const usdPerHour =
  (gpuWatts / 1000) * electricityUsdPerKwh +
  depreciationUsdPerHour +
  coolingUsdPerHour;

return {
  ...result,
  costUsd: (elapsedMs / 3_600_000) * usdPerHour,
  billingType: "metered_api",
  biller: "local-ollama",
};

The rate can also depend on the time of day, measured power consumption, or room-cooling cost.

Relevant code:

• costUsd is part of AdapterExecutionResult
• The only current budget metric is billed_cents
• Missing adapter cost becomes unpriced

If modifying the adapter is not possible, one calculated cost event per run can be submitted through POST /api/companies/:companyId/cost-events. Use either adapter reporting or manual events, not both, to avoid double-counting.

Token-budget routing and native time-of-use or thermal pricing are not built in yet; those would require a Paperclip feature addition.

[FlorianHeigl]

thanks a lot for this insight. this made it clear for me. I'll compare it with the adapters I can use and see if I can modify them. German Abrikosov ***@***.***> schrieb am Mi., 29. Juli 2026, 21:11:

…

You're not missing a setting. On current master, Paperclip does not calculate an internal per-minute price. The only enforceable budget metric is currently billed_cents, and the heartbeat ledger expects the adapter to provide costUsd. If an adapter reports token usage without a cost, Paperclip marks the event as unpriced and records zero cost, so it cannot consume a dollar budget. For a self-hosted Ollama adapter, the clean solution is to calculate the cost inside the adapter and return it with the execution result: const usdPerHour = (gpuWatts / 1000) * electricityUsdPerKwh + depreciationUsdPerHour + coolingUsdPerHour; return { ...result, costUsd: (elapsedMs / 3_600_000) * usdPerHour, billingType: "metered_api", biller: "local-ollama",}; The rate can also depend on the time of day, measured power consumption, or room-cooling cost. Relevant code: - costUsd is part of AdapterExecutionResult <https://github.com/paperclipai/paperclip/blob/9574cad3e85a641ef6314843676d8b8dd75848f9/packages/adapter-utils/src/types.ts#L76-L104> - The only current budget metric is billed_cents <https://github.com/paperclipai/paperclip/blob/9574cad3e85a641ef6314843676d8b8dd75848f9/packages/shared/src/constants.ts#L796-L803> - Missing adapter cost becomes unpriced <https://github.com/paperclipai/paperclip/blob/9574cad3e85a641ef6314843676d8b8dd75848f9/server/src/services/heartbeat.ts#L2930-L2944> If modifying the adapter is not possible, one calculated cost event per run can be submitted through POST /api/companies/:companyId/cost-events. Use either adapter reporting or manual events, not both, to avoid double-counting. Token-budget routing and native time-of-use or thermal pricing are not built in yet; those would require a Paperclip feature addition. — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#10400?email_source=notifications&email_token=AAVSVG7HNHGEFZXCV5Y3KK35HJD7PA5CNFSNUABIM5UWIORPF5TWS5BNNB2WEL2ENFZWG5LTONUW63SDN5WW2ZLOOQXTCNZYGMYTIOBUUZZGKYLTN5XKMYLVORUG64VFMV3GK3TUVRTG633UMVZF6Y3MNFRWW#discussioncomment-17831484>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AAVSVG4LDQ25765S4ZEDJJT5HJD7PAVCNFSNUABJKJSXA33TNF2G64TZHMYTCNZQHAZDCMBWGQ5UI2LTMN2XG43JN5XDWMJQGUYTIMJZGWQXMAQ> . Triage notifications, keep track of coding agent tasks and review pull requests on the go with GitHub Mobile for iOS <https://github.com/notifications/mobile/ios/AAVSVG7QUCXNK25OXGLO3J35HJD7PA5CNFSNUABIM5UWIORPF5TWS5BNNB2WEL2ENFZWG5LTONUW63SDN5WW2ZLOOQXTCNZYGMYTIOBUUZZGKYLTN5XKMYLVORUG64VFMV3GK3TUVJTG633UMVZF62LPOM> and Android <https://github.com/notifications/mobile/android/AAVSVG4HU4DUBLNEZMF7SKD5HJD7PA5CNFSNUABIM5UWIORPF5TWS5BNNB2WEL2ENFZWG5LTONUW63SDN5WW2ZLOOQXTCNZYGMYTIOBUUZZGKYLTN5XKMYLVORUG64VFMV3GK3TUVZTG633UMVZF6YLOMRZG62LE>. Download it today! You are receiving this because you authored the thread.Message ID: ***@***.*** com>