How to Track AI Spend
Tracking AI spend means attribution: which agent, which merchant, which category — and a cadence that turns the log into decisions.
The dimensions
Per-agent: every decision logged with the agent that made it.
Per-merchant: who got paid, how much.
Per-category: inference, data, tools, payments.
The source of truth
Provider dashboards show their slice; the audit log shows the whole — including blocked attempts.
The cadence
Weekly for spend, monthly for rules — one change at a time.
FAQ
What's the ground truth?
The audit log — every decision with the rule that fired.
How do I split provider vs firewall?
Providers bill; the log attributes. Use both.
Related
Stop the next $12,400 night.
One API call (or MCP tool) in front of every agent transaction — APPROVED, BLOCKED, or FLAGGED, deterministic, ~5 ms, fully logged.
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