Save Credits With Cost Optimizer
Cost Optimizer is the built-in workspace system that keeps simple conversation inexpensive without moving real work away from the model you selected.
TL;DR
Cost Optimizer is a workspace-wide model router called Credits Saver. Think of it as your Operations Officer. It sends simple conversation through a faster, lower-cost lane and keeps planning, research, and delivery on your selected model. It is on by default, and you can switch it off in Settings -> Technical -> Cost Optimizer.
What Kind of System Is This?
Cost Optimizer is a built-in workspace system, not an employee you hire or message. Its technical name is an LLM model router, sometimes called a model cascade: a system that chooses the right model lane before an employee replies.
It does not change an employee's role, tools, memory, safety rules, or selected model. It only decides whether this one incoming message needs the selected model or can safely use the fast lane. Read Your Workspace Systems for how it fits with the other built-in systems.
How It Works
Every message is checked once before the reply begins.
| Message type | What Cost Optimizer does | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Obvious greeting or acknowledgement | Uses the fast conversation lane without an AI routing check. | A routine hello or thank-you does not need extra spend. |
| Simple follow-up or small rewrite | Routes it to the fast lane when it is clearly conversational. | Short exchanges cost less while staying useful. |
| Planning, research, delivery, or a real decision | Keeps it on the employee's selected model. | Work quality stays where you chose it. |
| Ambiguous or failed routing check | Keeps it on the selected model. | When unsure, it protects quality instead of chasing a discount. |
A short approval such as “yes” or “go ahead” is read with the employee's previous proposal. If that approval starts real work, it stays on the selected model.
What You Can Control
The Credits Saver switch is the workspace control. Turn it off when you want every employee reply to use the employee's selected model. Turn it on when you want ordinary conversation to use the fast lane and real work to keep its normal quality lane.
The Officer can also step aside by itself for an employee whose selected model already costs the same as, or less than, the fast lane. In that case routing cannot save you money, so it does not add a paid decision step. Change the employee's selected model later and the Officer reassesses on the next message.
What It Costs and Saves
Cost Optimizer is not a blanket discount. The page separates the facts from your own usage:
| Page item | What it means |
|---|---|
| Fast lane / Work lane | How many messages actually used each lane. |
| Total router cost | The cost of the routing checks that needed one. |
| Credits saved | Measured savings from fast-lane turns that have a recorded comparison. |
| Net benefit | Measured savings minus the routing cost on those same turns. |
An obvious greeting has no routing charge. A message that needs a routing decision can cost a small amount for that decision, which is why the result shows router cost and net benefit instead of claiming every route saved money.
What It Never Does
- It never downgrades a message when the system is unsure whether it is real work.
- It never changes your selected model or an employee's tools, memory, or permissions.
- It never alters the words you send or chooses the task for an employee.
- It does not guarantee that every message saves credits. It shows the result from your own recorded usage.
Tips and Tricks
- Leave it on for normal day-to-day conversation. That is where the fast lane has room to help.
- Read Net benefit, not only Credits saved, when judging whether it is worthwhile for your workspace.
- If you change an employee to a lower-cost model, check the page again. The Officer may correctly stop routing because there is no cheaper lane to use.
- Use AI Evals when you want extra review of output. Cost Optimizer makes a routing decision, it does not judge the finished work.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Is Cost Optimizer another employee I need to manage? A: No. It is a built-in workspace system with one job: select the cost-appropriate model lane for an incoming message.
Q: Can it put important work on a cheap model? A: It keeps ambiguous and real-work messages on the selected model. A routing error also falls back to the selected model.
Q: Can I turn Cost Optimizer off? A: Yes. Turn off Credits Saver and every message uses the employee's selected model.
Q: Why did it not route a message for one employee? A: That employee may already use a model at or below the fast lane's cost. The Officer steps aside because an added routing check would not save money.
Q: Why is there a router cost when the point is saving credits? A: Some messages need a small AI routing check before the system can decide their lane. The page shows that cost beside the measured savings so you can judge the true result.