Why it matters
Multi-agent workflows can silently turn 'cheap per token' models into expensive pipelines. Cost control has to include coordination, tooling, and guardrails—not just model selection.
Tokenmaxxing read
Tokenmaxxing isn’t just prompt thrift; it’s systems design: cap budgets per task, limit agent fan-out, minimize context transfers, and measure retries/verification so agentic automation doesn’t compound spend.
Source takeaway
A practical cost taxonomy + pilot checklist: treat multi-agent overhead as first-class spend, add budget guardrails early, and don’t assume routing alone fixes coordination-driven cost.
