Copilot CLI Cost

Copilot CLI Cost adds estimated session-cost reporting to GitHub Copilot CLI.

It estimates costs across both Copilot billing models:

Premium request units
Usage-based billing with GitHub AI Credits

The calculator stores canonical cost in USD and converts to a selected display currency with cached exchange rates from Frankfurter or an explicit exchange-rate override.

Features

/cost command for active-session estimates
/cost session <session-id> for completed local sessions
Native cost panel with token bucket breakdowns
What-if subscription comparison for Copilot Free, Pro, Pro+, Max, Business, Enterprise, and Student
Display currency selector backed by cached Frankfurter USD exchange rates
Statusline cost segment with optional passthrough to another statusline
Standalone calculator CLI for sample data, JSON files, completed session events, and live snapshots
USD-first cost model with optional display currency conversion

Install

Install by executing the install script for your platform.

Windows PowerShell (install.ps1):

irm https://raw.githubusercontent.com/DamianEdwards/copilot-cli-cost/main/install.ps1 | iex

macOS/Linux (install.sh):

bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/DamianEdwards/copilot-cli-cost/main/install.sh)"

The remote scripts run in isolation and fetch their helper from the same raw-content base URL before configuring Copilot. To run a local checkout instead:

.\install.ps1

./install.sh

The installer:

Runs copilot plugin install DamianEdwards/copilot-cli-cost if the plugin is not already installed.
Downloads the installer helper from the raw-content base URL.
Installs the user-scoped extension shim for /cost and the panel.
Enables the Copilot experimental flags needed for extensions and the status line.
Configures a stable user-scoped statusline launcher under ~/.copilot/copilot-cli-cost/.

If you already have a Copilot status line configured, the installer prompts you to replace it, decorate it with the Copilot Cost status line using passthrough mode, or skip statusline configuration. Before changing existing settings that would otherwise be overwritten, it prompts and writes a timestamped settings.json.bak-* backup.

Installer options:

Option	Description
`--copilot-home <path>`	Use a custom Copilot home directory instead of `~/.copilot`; useful for isolated verification.
`--skip-statusline`	Install the plugin and extension shim without configuring `statusLine`.
`--yes`	Accept installer prompts. Existing status lines are decorated, not replaced.

Set COPILOT_COST_PLUGIN_SOURCE or pass --plugin-source <source> to install from a fork or alternate plugin source. Set COPILOT_COST_INSTALL_BASE_URL or pass --install-base-url <url> when running installer scripts from an alternate raw-content location. Set COPILOT_HOME or pass --copilot-home <path> to isolate installer writes.

If /cost is not available in an active Copilot CLI session after installing, run /extensions and enable copilot-cli-cost under User.

Manual install

The scripts perform these steps. To do them manually, first install the plugin:

copilot plugin install DamianEdwards/copilot-cli-cost

Then run the extension shim installer from the installed plugin.

PowerShell terminal:

$installer = Get-ChildItem "$env:USERPROFILE\.copilot\installed-plugins" -Directory -Recurse |
  Where-Object { Test-Path (Join-Path $_.FullName "scripts\install-extension-shim.mjs") } |
  Select-Object -First 1 -ExpandProperty FullName

if (-not $installer) {
  throw "Could not find installed copilot-cli-cost plugin."
}

node (Join-Path $installer "scripts\install-extension-shim.mjs")

Bash terminal:

installer="$(find "$HOME/.copilot/installed-plugins" -type f -path '*/scripts/install-extension-shim.mjs' | head -n 1)"
if [ -z "$installer" ]; then
  echo "Could not find installed copilot-cli-cost plugin." >&2
  exit 1
fi
node "$installer"

When you're developing from a local checkout and want the user-level extension pinned to that checkout instead of the cached installed-plugin copy, run the installer from the checkout itself:

node .\scripts\install-extension-shim.mjs

Configure ~/.copilot/settings.json. Do not put statusLine in config.json; that file is managed by Copilot CLI and user settings may be moved or removed during startup. Use your machine's statusline launcher path:

{
  "experimental": true,
  "experimental_flags": ["EXTENSIONS", "STATUS_LINE"],
  "statusLine": {
    "type": "command",
    "command": "C:\\Users\\alex\\.copilot\\copilot-cli-cost\\statusline.cmd"
  },
  "footer": {
    "showCustom": true
  }
}

macOS/Linux:

{
  "experimental": true,
  "experimental_flags": ["EXTENSIONS", "STATUS_LINE"],
  "statusLine": {
    "type": "command",
    "command": "sh \"/Users/alex/.copilot/copilot-cli-cost/statusline.sh\""
  },
  "footer": {
    "showCustom": true
  }
}

The statusline bridge prints a compact segment:

💸 Cost ~$0.3059 (30.6 cr, 2% pro) · 7.5 PRU, 2.5% pro · last 42K in/3K out

When the SDK extension can detect your current Copilot subscription, the statusline uses that cached plan for allowance percentages. COPILOT_COST_PLAN can still override the plan explicitly. If neither is available, the statusline falls back to assumed pro so the percentage is not presented as a detected plan.

The generated statusline launcher is workspace-aware. When Copilot sends a statusline payload with workspace.current_dir or cwd inside a copilot-cli-cost checkout or worktree, the launcher runs that checkout's src/cli/statusline.js; otherwise it falls back to the installed plugin copy. Set COPILOT_COST_STATUSLINE_DISABLE_WORKSPACE=true to always use the installed copy.

Use

/cost
/cost help
/cost update
/cost panel on
/cost panel off
/cost panel refresh
/cost session <session-id>
/cost live-session <session-id>
/cost --plan pro|pro-plus|max|business|enterprise
/cost --billing-model usage-based|premium-requests
/cost --currency USD|EUR|GBP|CAD|AUD|JPY|CHF

/cost is handled by extension JavaScript. It does not ask the model to calculate the result.

Use /cost update to force the extension to re-detect your current Copilot subscription and rewrite the shared cache used by the statusline. If the host exposes a statusline refresh hook, the command also requests an immediate refresh; otherwise the updated plan appears on the next normal statusline refresh.

The panel opens a native window:

/cost panel on

The panel shows:

Usage-based estimate
Premium-request estimate
Percentage of the selected plan's allowance used by the session
Searchable session picker for current, cached live, and completed sessions
Selected session ID and data source
Current or assumed subscription
What-if subscription selector
Display currency selector
Per-model token bucket breakdown
Collapsed raw JSON payload

Data sources

The SDK extension reads active-session metrics from Copilot CLI's session RPC API:

await session.rpc.usage.getMetrics()

That response includes:

Per-model request counts
Premium request cost
Copilot-reported AI credit usage (totalNanoAiu) when available
Input, cached input, cache write, output, and reasoning token buckets
Active model
Last-call input/output token counts
API duration
Code-change counters

The extension normalizes each read and writes a live snapshot to the platform cache folder:

Windows: %LOCALAPPDATA%\copilot-cli-cost\live-sessions
macOS:   ~/Library/Caches/copilot-cli-cost/live-sessions
Linux:   ${XDG_CACHE_HOME:-~/.cache}/copilot-cli-cost/live-sessions

Completed local sessions can be read from:

Windows: %USERPROFILE%\.copilot\session-state\<session-id>\events.jsonl
macOS/Linux: ~/.copilot/session-state/<session-id>/events.jsonl

The parser reads the latest metrics event and extracts Copilot-reported AI credit usage, per-model token buckets, and total premium request units.

For usage-based billing, Copilot-reported AI credits are preferred because they match the CLI's own AI Credits counter. Token-rate estimates are retained as a fallback when Copilot does not provide AI credit totals, and the panel labels which method was used.

When statusline payloads include transcript_path, live snapshots are also grouped into a logical session. This keeps each resumed Copilot CLI instance as its own snapshot while letting /cost, the statusline segment, and the panel show the total cost across resumed instances. If premium request counters look cumulative across a resume, the aggregate uses the latest cumulative value instead of summing and double-counting it.

Statusline passthrough

Set COPILOT_COST_STATUSLINE_PASSTHROUGH to call another statusline command. The default passthrough mode enriches the stdin JSON with copilot_cost and lets the inner statusline render all output.

PowerShell:

$env:COPILOT_COST_STATUSLINE_PASSTHROUGH = "C:\Users\alex\.copilot\statusline\statusline.cmd"
copilot

macOS/Linux:

export COPILOT_COST_STATUSLINE_PASSTHROUGH="$HOME/.copilot/statusline/statusline.sh"
copilot

The enriched payload includes:

{
  "copilot_cost": {
    "schema_version": 1,
    "status_line": "💸 Cost ~$0.3059 (30.6 cr, 2% pro) · 7.5 PRU, 2.5% pro · last 42K in/3K out",
    "aggregate_usage_based": {
      "billingModel": "usage-based",
      "totalUsd": 0.305869,
      "aiCredits": 30.5869,
      "creditCalculationSource": "copilot-cli-session-aiu"
    },
    "aggregate_premium_requests": {
      "billingModel": "premium-requests",
      "totalPremiumRequests": 7.5,
      "overageEquivalentUsd": 0.3
    },
    "usage_based": {
      "billingModel": "usage-based",
      "totalUsd": 0.305869,
      "aiCredits": 30.5869,
      "creditCalculationSource": "copilot-cli-session-aiu"
    },
    "premium_requests": {
      "billingModel": "premium-requests",
      "totalPremiumRequests": 7.5,
      "overageEquivalentUsd": 0.3
    }
  }
}

Set decorate mode to combine this bridge's output with the passthrough output:

PowerShell:

$env:COPILOT_COST_STATUSLINE_MODE = "decorate"
$env:COPILOT_COST_STATUSLINE_POSITION = "right"
copilot

macOS/Linux:

export COPILOT_COST_STATUSLINE_MODE=decorate
export COPILOT_COST_STATUSLINE_POSITION=right
copilot

Statusline environment variables:

Variable	Default	Meaning
`COPILOT_COST_STATUSLINE_PASSTHROUGH`	unset	Command to invoke with enriched statusline JSON on stdin.
`COPILOT_COST_STATUSLINE_MODE`	`passthrough` when passthrough is set, otherwise `standalone`	`passthrough`, `decorate`, or `standalone`.
`COPILOT_COST_STATUSLINE_POSITION`	`right`	In `decorate` mode: `right`, `left`, `replace`, or `passthrough`.
`COPILOT_COST_STATUSLINE_SEPARATOR`	`·`	In `decorate` mode: text between the passthrough output and cost segment.
`COPILOT_COST_STATUSLINE_PASSTHROUGH_TIMEOUT_MS`	`1000`	Maximum time to wait for the passthrough command.
`COPILOT_COST_STATUSLINE_HIDE_COST`	`false`	Cache live data but do not print the cost segment.
`COPILOT_COST_STATUSLINE_COLOR`	`true`	Set to `false` to disable ANSI color in the rendered cost segment.

Configuration

Set these environment variables before launching copilot:

PowerShell:

$env:COPILOT_COST_PLAN = "enterprise"
$env:COPILOT_COST_CURRENCY = "EUR"
$env:COPILOT_COST_PROMOTIONAL_ALLOWANCE = "true"
copilot

macOS/Linux:

export COPILOT_COST_PLAN=enterprise
export COPILOT_COST_CURRENCY=EUR
export COPILOT_COST_PROMOTIONAL_ALLOWANCE=true
copilot

Variable	Meaning
`COPILOT_COST_PLAN`	Default plan when subscription detection is unavailable.
`COPILOT_COST_CURRENCY`	Display currency code. USD is canonical. Non-USD values use Frankfurter unless an override is configured.
`COPILOT_COST_EXCHANGE_RATE`	USD-to-display-currency exchange rate override for `COPILOT_COST_CURRENCY`.
`COPILOT_COST_FX_<CODE>`	USD-to-currency exchange rate override for a specific currency, for example `COPILOT_COST_FX_EUR=0.9`.
`COPILOT_COST_FX_CACHE`	Exchange-rate cache folder. Defaults to `%LOCALAPPDATA%\copilot-cli-cost\fx-rates` on Windows, `~/Library/Caches/copilot-cli-cost/fx-rates` on macOS, or `${XDG_CACHE_HOME:-~/.cache}/copilot-cli-cost/fx-rates` on Linux.
`COPILOT_COST_SUBSCRIPTION_CACHE`	Current subscription cache file used by the statusline. Defaults to `current-subscription.json` under the platform cache root.
`COPILOT_COST_PROMOTIONAL_ALLOWANCE`	Use promotional Business/Enterprise AI Credit allowances.
`COPILOT_COST_BILL_REASONING_TOKENS`	Set to `true` to include reasoning tokens as output-priced cost. By default they are shown as informational only.

The live session cache can be overridden with COPILOT_COST_LIVE_STORE. By default it uses the same platform cache root as COPILOT_COST_FX_CACHE.

Native panel notes

The /cost command and calculator are pure Node.js. The native panel uses @webviewjs/webview, which installs a platform-specific optional package for Windows, macOS, and Linux x64. The extension bootstrap runs npm install --include=optional --no-audit --no-fund when those panel dependencies are missing.

On Linux, the native webview package still depends on system GTK/WebKit libraries supplied by your distribution, such as WebKitGTK and GTK. If /cost panel on fails to open, install your distribution's WebKitGTK/GTK runtime packages and reload the extension.

Standalone calculator

Clone the repository when you want to run tests or use the calculator directly:

git clone https://github.com/DamianEdwards/copilot-cli-cost.git
cd copilot-cli-cost
npm test

Examples:

npm run cost -- --sample
npm run cost -- --sample --billing-model premium-requests --plan pro-plus
npm run cost -- --premium-requests 12.5 --plan pro --remaining-premium-requests 10
npm run cost -- --session <session-id> --plan pro
npm run cost -- --live --plan max
npm run cost -- --sample --currency EUR
npm run cost -- --sample --currency EUR --exchange-rate 0.9

Usage JSON shape:

{
  "sessionId": "sample-session-001",
  "plan": "pro",
  "currency": "USD",
  "modelUsage": [
    {
      "model": "gpt-5.5",
      "requests": 3,
      "inputTokens": 600000,
      "cachedInputTokens": 420000,
      "cacheWriteTokens": 0,
      "outputTokens": 36000,
      "reasoningTokens": 1200
    }
  ]
}

How estimates are calculated

Usage-based billing uses published per-1M-token rates. inputTokens is the total input token count from Copilot metrics, and cachedInputTokens is the cached subset, so only uncached input tokens use the regular input rate:

uncachedInputTokens = max(inputTokens - cachedInputTokens, 0)
inputUsd            = uncachedInputTokens / 1,000,000 * inputPerMillionUsd
cachedInputUsd      = cachedInputTokens   / 1,000,000 * cachedInputPerMillionUsd
cacheWriteUsd       = cacheWriteTokens    / 1,000,000 * cacheWritePerMillionUsd
outputUsd           = outputTokens        / 1,000,000 * outputPerMillionUsd
reasoningUsd        = 0 unless COPILOT_COST_BILL_REASONING_TOKENS=true
aiCredits           = totalUsd / 0.01
includedAiCredits   = baseAiCredits + current flexAiCredits

Premium-request billing uses Copilot-reported premium request units when present. If only model request counts are available, it applies the configured model multiplier table.

For individual usage-based billing, Pro and Pro+ include a fixed base credit amount plus a variable flex allotment. The calculator reports the current published total as included credits and preserves the base/flex split in machine-readable output. Copilot Max is usage-based only in this calculator; premium-request support remains for existing request-based plans.

Non-USD currency values are display estimates. USD remains canonical because GitHub model rates and AI Credits are documented in USD. Non-USD /cost and panel requests fetch USD exchange rates from Frankfurter and cache them for reuse; explicit environment or CLI exchange-rate overrides take precedence.

Limitations

Rate tables are hardcoded in src/core/rates.js and should be checked against GitHub billing docs.
Reasoning tokens are shown as informational only unless COPILOT_COST_BILL_REASONING_TOKENS=true, because GitHub's published Copilot pricing table does not list a separate reasoning-token bucket.
Business and Enterprise included credits are pooled at the billing entity level, so a session estimate is not always incremental billable spend.
Taxes, regional billing rules, and GitHub billing-account currency handling are not modeled.
Statusline per-model attribution depends on successive cumulative payloads and the active model at each refresh. Resumed-session aggregation depends on transcript_path; without it, live snapshots fall back to the current session_id and cannot be linked to previous instances.

License

MIT. See LICENSE.

Name		Name	Last commit message	Last commit date
Latest commit History 44 Commits
.github		.github
commands		commands
docs		docs
fixtures		fixtures
scripts		scripts
skills		skills
src		src
test		test
.gitattributes		.gitattributes
.gitignore		.gitignore
LICENSE		LICENSE
README.md		README.md
hooks.json		hooks.json
install.ps1		install.ps1
install.sh		install.sh
package.json		package.json
plugin.json		plugin.json

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Copilot CLI Cost

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Copilot CLI Cost

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Configuration

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Standalone calculator

How estimates are calculated

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