From db478e700fe739cbebeaf0ecbb611132afd46a89 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Chris Butler Date: Tue, 28 Apr 2026 17:48:19 -0700 Subject: [PATCH] docs(faq): add billing, spend controls, and loop cost entries Add three new FAQ entries under 'Costs & Usage' to address common enterprise questions about billing predictability: - Are Actions minutes charged in addition to AI costs? - How do retries and agent loops affect costs? - How do I control spend and set budgets? These topics were raised in github/agentic-workflows#495 and are broadly applicable to enterprise users evaluating gh-aw. Co-authored-by: Copilot <223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com> --- docs/src/content/docs/reference/faq.md | 32 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 32 insertions(+) diff --git a/docs/src/content/docs/reference/faq.md b/docs/src/content/docs/reference/faq.md index 336b0fe8558..28c8e842568 100644 --- a/docs/src/content/docs/reference/faq.md +++ b/docs/src/content/docs/reference/faq.md @@ -546,6 +546,38 @@ Costs vary depending on workflow complexity, AI model, and execution time. GitHu Reduce costs by optimizing prompts, using smaller models, limiting tool calls, reducing run frequency, and caching results. +### Are GitHub Actions minutes charged in addition to AI costs? + +Yes. Every agentic workflow run is a GitHub Actions workflow run, so it consumes Actions minutes alongside AI inference. These are billed separately: + +- **Actions minutes**: Standard GitHub Actions billing applies — free for public repos, metered for private repos based on your plan. Set a [spending limit](https://docs.github.com/en/billing/managing-billing-for-your-products/managing-billing-for-github-actions/managing-your-spending-limit-for-github-actions) at the org level to cap Actions spend. +- **AI inference**: Billed through your AI engine account (see [Who pays for the use of AI?](#who-pays-for-the-use-of-ai)). + +### How do retries and agent loops affect costs? + +gh-aw has no automatic retry mechanism — each workflow trigger produces exactly one run. However, you can control reasoning depth and autopilot continuation, which directly affects how many tokens and how much wall-clock time (Actions minutes) a run consumes: + +- `max-turns` (Claude only) — limits the number of AI chat iterations per run +- `max-continuations` (Copilot only) — enables autopilot mode with multiple consecutive triggered runs + +```yaml +engine: + id: claude +max-turns: 5 # limit reasoning depth per run +``` + +Keep these values low for cost-sensitive workflows. For scheduled workflows, run frequency is the primary cost lever — an hourly schedule at 1–2 premium requests per run adds up quickly across many repositories. + +### How do I control spend and set budgets? + +Spend controls live at the provider level, not inside gh-aw: + +- **Actions minutes**: Set an org spending limit in GitHub Billing settings. +- **Claude / Codex / Gemini**: Configure spend limits in the Anthropic Console or OpenAI platform. These apply at the API key or project level. +- **Copilot**: Usage is quota-based (premium requests per month) rather than dollar-metered, so the natural cap is the plan's monthly request quota. + +For per-repository cost tracking, use a dedicated API key per repository so provider dashboards show usage broken down by key. You can also use `gh aw audit ` for per-run token and cost detail, and `gh aw logs` for run history and aggregate metrics. + ### Can I change the model being used, e.g., use a cheaper or more advanced one? Yes! You can configure the model in your workflow frontmatter: