Cut your AI cost IN HALF (EASY) — Key Takeaways
Route planning tasks to frontier models (Fable) and code execution to cheaper models (GPT-4.5/Composer 2.5) to cut AI costs ~68% without sacrificing output quality.
Key takeaways
Split planning vs. execution across models to cut AI costs ~68%
Split planning vs. execution across models to cut AI costs ~68%
- Fable for planning (100k in / 20k out) costs $2; offloading coding to a cheap model drops total from $9.50 to $3.20.
- Planning uses far fewer output tokens than code generation — and output tokens are 5x more expensive than input on Fable.
First-party tools (Claude Code, Codex) lack model routing; third-party
First-party tools (Claude Code, Codex) lack model routing; third-party
- OpenAI and Anthropic are incentivized to keep you on frontier models — none of their native tools auto-route to cheaper models.
- Cursor, Factory, and Devin all implement model routing as a differentiator; Cursor's auto mode silently downgrades easy tasks to Composer 2.5.
Claude Code and Codex can invoke each other via CLI for automatic model routing
Claude Code and Codex can invoke each other via CLI for automatic model routing
- Codex exposes a CLI, so Claude can call it as a subprocess — enabling a slash-command workflow where Fable plans and Codex executes.
- A custom Claude skill (/codex implement) handles the full loop: Fable plans, GPT-4.5/Codex writes, Claude verifies.
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In this video
- 1mIntroduction to Model Routing and Cost Savings
- 2mPlanning vs. Execution: The Core Concept
- 5mStep-by-Step Workflow Walkthrough
- 8mSponsor: GenSpark
- 9mThe Math: Cost Comparison with and without Model Routing
- 12mPractical Implementation: Manual Copy-Paste Method
- 15mAutomated Routing: Claude-Codex Integration and Third-Party Tools
- 17mChoosing Models and Thinking Levels for Non-Coding Tasks
- 18mEnterprise-Scale Model Routing: Coinbase Example
“While their total token usage continues to increase, the actual bars right here are decreasing. This is their total cost decreasing or staying flat.”
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