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Cost and production
Cost and reliability are design decisions. These articles cover where LLM spend goes and the levers that reduce it, in the order that protects quality.
4 articles on this topic
Ordered from foundations to advanced, newest first within each level.
- Context Engineering vs Prompt Engineering: What ChangesWhat context engineering is and how it differs from prompt engineering: what goes into context, budgets, ordering, compaction and how to evaluate it.Foundations 9 min readLast reviewed 2026-10-11
- API or Local Models: Where the Cost Break-Even SitsWhen does running a model yourself beat paying for an API? A total-cost framework, an illustrative break-even calculation and the non-cost factors that decide.Intermediate 9 min readLast reviewed 2026-10-11
- How to Reduce LLM Costs by 90% Without Hurting QualitySemantic caching, model routing and context compression compound. How each lever works, how to apply it safely, the maths behind 90% and where teams go wrong.Intermediate 11 min readLast reviewed 2026-10-11
- AI Agent Loops: Stopping Conditions and Guardrails for ProductionWhy agents loop forever and the guardrails that stop them: iteration limits, cost budgets, tool-call deduplication, progress checks and clear 'done' criteria.Advanced 12 min readLast reviewed 2026-10-11