> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://axiom.co/docs/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Control costs skill

> This page explains how to use the Control costs skill to give AI coding agents the ability to analyze usage and optimize Axiom costs.

The Control costs skill helps AI agents optimize Axiom usage and reduce costs:

* **Waste identification**: Find unused columns, never-queried datasets, and high-volume low-value data
* **Query analysis**: Analyze query patterns to identify optimization opportunities
* **Dashboard deployment**: Deploy cost control dashboards with ingest trends, burn rate, and projections
* **Monitor creation**: Set up monitors for contract limits, spike detection, and reduction glidepaths
* **Analysis workflow**: Systematic approach to prioritize and analyze datasets by impact

## Prerequisites

* [Create an Axiom account](https://app.axiom.co/register).
* [Create a dataset in Axiom](/reference/datasets#create-dataset) where you send your data.
* [Create an API token in Axiom](/reference/tokens) with permissions to ingest data to the dataset you have created.

## Install Axiom Skills

Install all Axiom skills at once for Claude Code, Cursor, and other Claude-compatible agents:

```bash theme={null}
npx skills add axiomhq/skills
```

### Configure Axiom credentials

All Axiom Skills share the same credential configuration. Create a configuration file at `~/.axiom.toml`:

```toml ~/.axiom.toml theme={null}
[deployments.dev]
url = "https://api.axiom.co"
token = "API_TOKEN"
org_id = "ORGANIZATION_ID"
edge_url = "AXIOM_DOMAIN"
```

<Info>
  Replace `API_TOKEN` with the Axiom API token you have generated. For added security, store the API token in an environment variable.

  Replace `ORGANIZATION_ID` with your organization ID. For more information, see [Determine organization ID](/reference/tokens#determine-organization-id).

  Replace `AXIOM_DOMAIN` with the base domain of your edge deployment. For more information, see [Edge deployments](/reference/edge-deployments).

  For token creation and scoping guidance, see [Token hygiene for AI agents](/console/intelligence/ai-agents-overview#token-hygiene-for-ai-agents).
</Info>

## Use Control costs skill

The Control costs skill activates automatically when you ask your AI agent to:

* Reduce Axiom costs or find waste
* Set up cost control dashboards and monitors
* Analyze query coverage and unused data
* Track ingest spend and burn rate

Example prompts:

* "Help reduce Axiom costs"
* "Find unused columns in the datasets"
* "Set up cost control monitoring for the organization"
* "Which datasets are being paid for but never queried?"

## Cost control workflow

The Control costs skill follows a phased approach:

| Phase        | Description                                                 |
| ------------ | ----------------------------------------------------------- |
| Discovery    | Capture baseline ingest statistics and build analysis queue |
| Dashboard    | Deploy cost control dashboard with trends and projections   |
| Monitors     | Create monitors for contract limits and spike detection     |
| Optimization | Analyze datasets to find waste and recommend actions        |
| Glidepath    | Track reduction progress with weekly threshold updates      |