if you’re getting into clawdbot, know this first: you’re not running an AI. you’re running an economy. tokens = money. clawdbot runs different when you understand the costs. Every message loads your context files ,every browser action costs 10x more than text. crons running every 20 min drain budget silently. the system that actually works: > opus for complex builds, sonnet for daily chat. > switch models mid-session when the task changes. > run local models (ollama + deepseek) for simple stuff, zero cost. > trim your context files (smaller AGENTS. md = less tokens per message) > compact context before you hit the limit, not after. > fewer crons, longer intervals. every 4h not every 20min. burned 50% of my weekly quota in 2 days before figuring this out. Now the same setup runs 3x longer. clawdbot is powerful but it's not free. ...