The 10M Token Question Nobody Asks: Where Do the Tokens Actually Go?

Description and use

A burn‑rate test measures actual token consumption per completed task, enabling accurate planning of a 10 M token allowance and identification of wasteful patterns.

Problem

Developers rely on token quotas without understanding actual burn rate, leading to inefficient budgeting and unclear capacity planning.

Outcome

The burn test reveals actual token consumption per task, allowing teams to plan usage of a 10 M token allowance accurately and identify inefficiencies such as excessive context or tool‑call overhead.

Workflow

• 1. Write a burn‑test script adapted to your agent CLI.
• 2. Run the agent on a real repo task (≥10 min) and capture the JSON usage report.
• 3. Extract total tokens, number of steps, and tool calls using a Python helper.
• 4. Repeat the run twice more and take the median of the three runs.
• 5. Interpret the results using the provided burn‑rate table to estimate how many tasks 10 M tokens will cover.

Evidence

Token quotas are marketing numbers until you measure your burn rate, and most developers never take that second step.

Source

The script below is an illustrative adapter, not a guarantee that any specific CLI flag exists in your tool.

Source

A 10M token allowance is either a hundred small tasks or twenty large ones, and you cannot know which until you measure it.

Source