Copilot CLI Token Usage & Cost Calculator

Parses Copilot CLI process logs to extract per-model token usage and calculates estimated API-equivalent costs.

Go-based CLI for parsing Copilot token usage and estimating API-equivalent costs.

Gist

https://gist.github.com/ekroon/424b81ebca907b5e5de3ce07a649da5e

Usage

Install with mise

mise use -g github:ekroon/copilot-token-cost
copilot-token-cost                         # default: last 7 days
copilot-token-cost 30                      # last 30 days
copilot-token-cost --period 30             # last 30 days via explicit flag
copilot-token-cost --json                  # machine-readable output

Go

cd go && go build -o copilot-token-cost .  # build once
./go/copilot-token-cost                    # default: last 7 days
./go/copilot-token-cost 30                 # last 30 days
./go/copilot-token-cost --period 30        # last 30 days via explicit flag
./go/copilot-token-cost --all              # all available logs
./go/copilot-token-cost --json             # machine-readable output

Codespaces tail prototype (SSH/SFTP spike)

cd go
go run ./cmd/codespace-tail-proto --codespace <codespace-name> --run-for 60s --poll-interval 2s

By default, the prototype discovers and tails all process*.log files, picks up new files that appear during runtime, and stops syncing files that disappear. It does a full copy first, then tails appended bytes; with --reconnect-once (default), it reconnects mid-run and performs a full recopy before resuming tail reads.

It persists per-file tail checkpoints to SQLite (codespace_tail_offsets) and runs digest checks; if local/remote digests diverge, it performs a defensive full recopy before continuing. Use --state-db <path> to override the checkpoint DB path.

Common Flags

Flag	Description
<days>	Number of days to look back (default: 7)
--period VALUE	Explicit date window: today, yesterday, all, or a positive day count
--all	Process all available logs
--today	Today only
--yesterday	Yesterday only
--from N	Start from N days ago (0=today)
--to N	End at N days ago (0=today)
--logs-dir PATH	Override logs directory
--project TEXT	Filter stats/output to projects whose workspace path matches this text (case-insensitive)
--json	Machine-readable JSON output
--sync	Force full re-sync of all log files into the database (including codespaces when --codespaces-sync is used)
--import-file FILE	Import data from JSONL or SQLite file
--export-file FILE	Export data as JSONL
--codespaces-sync	Sync Copilot data from running Codespaces via gh cs cp
--codespaces-include-stopped	Include stopped Codespaces (requires --codespaces-sync or --web)
--web	Run local web dashboard mode (respects date-window flags like --today, --yesterday, --from/--to; cannot be combined with --json or --export-file)
--web-listen ADDR	Web mode listen address (default 127.0.0.1:7331)
--web-refresh-interval DURATION	Local refresh interval in web mode (default 30s)
--web-local-streaming	Experimental: realtime local log streaming updates in web mode (replaces periodic local refresh loop)
--web-codespaces-mode MODE	Web Codespaces sync mode: manual or auto (default auto: background startup sync + periodic sync)
--web-codespaces-streaming	Experimental: read live Codespaces streaming checkpoint status (codespace_tail_offsets) into dashboard sync status
--web-codespaces-interval DURATION	Web Codespaces sync interval when mode is auto (default 5m)
--web-log-mode MODE	Web stderr logging mode: compact (default, single-line live status), verbose (line-by-line logs), or errors (warnings/errors + startup lines)

Desktop App (macOS)

A native macOS desktop app wrapping the web dashboard, with a system tray icon and in-app settings.

Install from GitHub Release

1. Download the .dmg for your architecture from Releases
2. Open the .dmg and drag Copilot Token Cost to Applications
3. Signed and notarized release builds should open normally.
4. If you're testing a locally built or ad-hoc-signed app, use right-click → Open (or Control+click → Open) once and confirm the dialog

The app runs in the system tray. Settings (period, streaming, codespaces mode) are configurable from the tray menu — changes restart the server automatically.

Release notarization in GitHub Actions uses the minimum practical Apple secret set:

• APPLE_CERTIFICATE_P12 — base64-encoded Developer ID Application certificate export (.p12)
• APPLE_CERTIFICATE_PASSWORD — password for that .p12
• APPLE_API_KEY_ID — App Store Connect API key ID
• APPLE_API_ISSUER — App Store Connect issuer ID
• APPLE_API_PRIVATE_KEY — contents of the AuthKey_<id>.p8 private key

If none of these are configured, the workflow falls back to ad-hoc signing for test builds. If only some are configured, the release job fails fast rather than publishing a partially signed macOS artifact.

Build from source

cd desktop
make install-deps   # npm install
make build          # builds Go sidecar + Tauri .app and .dmg

Requires: Go, Rust, Node.js, and the Tauri CLI.

Web mode

./go/copilot-token-cost --web
./go/copilot-token-cost --web --today
./go/copilot-token-cost --web --period 14
./go/copilot-token-cost --web --web-local-streaming
./go/copilot-token-cost --web --web-codespaces-mode manual
./go/copilot-token-cost --web --web-codespaces-streaming
./go/copilot-token-cost --web --web-log-mode verbose

Web mode is Data-star-first: the dashboard shell is server-rendered with Datastar-driven updates (no custom fetch loop). The overview renders as tables/sections (Sync status, Per-model summary, Per-project summary, Daily totals), and live updates emit datastar-patch-elements SSE fragments that patch #overview-summary, #sync-status-region, #model-summary-region, #project-summary-region, #daily-totals-region, and #stats-json. The / page is now the Copilot Stats view, with sections for Today summary + weekly average, token/money trends, and top projects/models for today and this week; money sections report premium spend and cache-aware API-equivalent spend (API spend in the UI). The dashboard keeps a persistent GET /events SSE stream open; reconnecting starts a fresh stream for subsequent broadcasts, and keep-alive heartbeat events are sent while idle. Web mode respects the same date-window flags as CLI output (<days>, --today, --yesterday, --from/--to, --all). The server starts immediately and serves the latest DB snapshot; startup then runs local refresh + Codespaces sync in the background (Codespaces only when mode is auto). Startup and sync progress are logged to stderr. By default (--web-log-mode compact), progress is shown as a continuously updated single status line (with heartbeat) so you can see activity without repeated multi-line spam; transient success chatter is suppressed, next= countdowns are hidden during streaming states, and warnings/errors still print as regular lines. Use --web-log-mode verbose for line-by-line output, or --web-log-mode errors for warnings/errors and essential startup lines only. Periodic behavior remains configurable: local refresh uses --web-refresh-interval (default 30s) and auto Codespaces sync uses --web-codespaces-interval (default 5m). Codespaces auto-sync runs on each interval and attempts SSH connection reuse (ControlMaster=auto, ControlPersist=15m) for the ssh+tar copy path to reduce repeated auth prompts; if prompts still recur, use --web-codespaces-mode manual or a longer interval. With --web-local-streaming, local updates are pushed from realtime log-file change detection instead of periodic local polling, and local checkpoints are persisted in codespace_tail_offsets (source='local') including hash metadata and defensive-recopy timestamps. With --web-codespaces-streaming, dashboard sync status also reflects live streaming checkpoint state from codespace_tail_offsets (active streams, last chunk timestamp, defensive recopy timestamp, and last error). Use --web-codespaces-mode manual to disable startup/periodic Codespaces sync and trigger it on-demand via POST /actions/sync-codespaces.

Web endpoints:

• GET / — Copilot Stats view (today + weekly average, token/money trends, top projects/models for today/week)
• GET /details — dashboard shell with summary tables and JSON snapshot
• GET /events — persistent Datastar SSE stream for live patch broadcasts + heartbeat keep-alives
• GET /api/stats — current JSON stats snapshot
• GET /healthz — liveness check (ok)
• POST /actions/sync-codespaces — trigger Codespaces sync and return SSE patch

Semver Tagging Helper

Use the helper script to create and push the next release tag based on existing vX.Y.Z tags:

./scripts/semver-tag.sh patch   # v1.2.3 -> v1.2.4
./scripts/semver-tag.sh minor   # v1.2.3 -> v1.3.0
./scripts/semver-tag.sh major   # v1.2.3 -> v2.0.0

If no semver tags exist yet, it starts from v0.0.0.

SQLite Database

The Go implementation uses a single SQLite database (copilot-tokens.db) in:

• $XDG_STATE_HOME/copilot-token-cost/ when XDG_STATE_HOME is set
• ~/.local/state/copilot-token-cost/ as fallback

Legacy project/binary locations are not used automatically; migration is manual. The database:

• Auto-syncs on every run — only new/modified log files are re-parsed
• Fast first run — non---all runs only sync logs in the requested date window
• Improves performance — subsequent runs skip already-parsed logs
• Enables data portability — export from a codespace, import locally
• Prompt text persistence semantics — when prompt text is available to ingestion, it is stored by default (always-on, no opt-in flag); unavailable prompt text remains NULL

Import / Export

Export data from one machine:

./go/copilot-token-cost --export-file tokens.jsonl

Import on another:

./go/copilot-token-cost --import-file tokens.jsonl

You can also copy copilot-tokens.db directly, or import from another SQLite DB:

./go/copilot-token-cost --import-file /path/to/other/copilot-tokens.db

Use --sync to force a full re-parse of all log files (useful after updates):

./go/copilot-token-cost --sync

Direct SQL Queries

Run read-only SQL queries directly against the database:

copilot-token-cost sql "SELECT COUNT(*) FROM api_calls"
copilot-token-cost sql "SELECT DISTINCT cwd FROM session_workspaces"
copilot-token-cost sql --json "SELECT model_normalized, COUNT(*) as n FROM api_calls GROUP BY 1 ORDER BY n DESC"

Supports piping:

echo "SELECT MAX(timestamp) FROM api_calls" | copilot-token-cost sql

Performance Checks

CodSpeed CI benchmark (authoritative performance gate):

# Workflow: .github/workflows/codspeed.yml
cd go && go test -bench '^BenchmarkParseLogFileSynthetic$' -benchtime=30x -count=1

The CodSpeed action is configured with mode: walltime for Go benchmarks. To upload results to CodSpeed from GitHub Actions, set repository secret CODSPEED_TOKEN (the workflow falls back to a plain benchmark run if CodSpeed upload is unavailable).

Optional local parser regression ratio check:

./scripts/check-performance.sh

End-to-end cold go run . --today check on deterministic 3x synthetic data (isolated XDG_STATE_HOME):

./scripts/check-e2e-go-run-target.sh 250 20

Output

• Per-model summary — calls, tokens, cache hit%, cost, and hypothetical no-cache cost
• Cost per premium request — API cost divided by premium request count per model
• Daily breakdown — usage and cost by day
• Per-project breakdown — usage and cost by workspace/project
• Pricing reference — rates used for calculations

Historical Pricing

The pricing.json file contains time-ranged pricing periods. Each API call's cost is calculated using the pricing that was in effect at its timestamp. This means pricing changes (e.g., premium request multiplier changes) are correctly applied retroactively when recalculating costs.