The AI bill that cost a dev $200 in 30 minutes.
Yours could be next.

AI Spend Guardian polls your Anthropic / OpenAI usage and alerts you BEFORE the bill arrives. Paid tier proxies your traffic and KILLS requests when cap is hit.

"PSA: The string 'HERMES.md' in your git commit history silently routes Claude Code billing to extra usage — cost me $200" — r/ClaudeAI, 1471↑, May 2026

Real pain (verified, 30 days)

Stage 1 — free CLI tracker (2-min setup)

npx ai-spend-guardian setup

Local cron polls usage every 30 min. Slack/Discord/desktop alerts at 50/80/95/100% of cap. API key never leaves your machine. MIT licensed.

Stage 2 — cloud dashboard ($9/mo Pro · $29/mo Team)

Multi-provider, SMS alerts, monthly projection, team sharing.

Stage 3 — hard cap proxy ($29/mo Team · $99/mo Insured)

One-line change. Proxy KILLS request when cap exceeded. Insurance refund up to $200 if cap fails.

const client = new Anthropic({
  baseURL: "https://proxy.spend-guardian.io",  // ← was api.anthropic.com
  apiKey: process.env.ANTHROPIC_API_KEY,
  defaultHeaders: { "x-sg-token": process.env.SG_TOKEN }
});

Why now (May 2026)

• Anthropic moved 3rd-party app billing to extra usage Q1 2026 — Cursor, Claude Code, Cline, Windsurf all draw from your card
• Opus 4.7 regression made devs switch mid-cycle, double-paying
• 235 mentions of AI bill-shock pain across Reddit + HN + DEV.to + GitHub in last 30 days
• No native hard cap on Anthropic, OpenAI, xAI APIs