๐Ÿ“‰Cost Optimization

How to Set Up Per-User Token Budgets

Intermediate30-60 minutesUpdated 2025-01-16

When multiple team members share an OpenClaw instance, one power user can burn through the entire API budget, leaving nothing for others. Per-user budgets let you set daily and monthly token limits for each user, track usage individually, and gracefully handle over-limit scenarios without disrupting the team.

Why This Is Hard to Do Yourself

These are the common pitfalls that trip people up.

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Shared budget chaos

One user runs expensive automations and uses 80% of the monthly budget in week one. Rest of team is throttled.

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No user identification

Default OpenClaw doesn't track which user made which request. All usage looks the same.

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Fair allocation

How do you fairly distribute token budgets? Equal per person? By role? By project?

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Handling over-limit users

User hits their limit mid-task. Do you hard-stop them? Warn them? Let them continue at reduced priority?

Step-by-Step Guide

Step 1

Enable user identification

Tag each request with user ID.

Warning: Per-user budgets require user identification. If your OpenClaw instance has no auth, you must add it first or use API keys to identify users.

Step 2

Create per-user budget config

Define limits for each user.

Step 3

Set daily and monthly limits per user

Configure time-based resets.

Step 4

Configure warning messages

Notify users before hard limits.

Step 5

Set up admin dashboard

View all users' token usage.

Step 6

Handle over-limit users

Decide what happens when budget is exceeded.

Warning: Hard stops can frustrate users mid-task. Consider soft limits with admin review or reduced priority routing instead.

Need Custom Per-User Budget Logic?

Basic per-user budgets are straightforward, but enterprise setups need role-based limits, department budgets, project-based allocation, and custom enforcement logic. Our experts design and implement token budget systems tailored to your team structure.

Get matched with a specialist who can help.

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Frequently Asked Questions