VALP cost governance is task-local and provider-neutral. It is a reproducible accounting projection, not a provider integration or a claim about current public pricing.
pricing-snapshots.json carries immutable token-rate snapshots. Every snapshot
contains separate official_list, relay_account, and
subscription_marginal rates. usage-events.jsonl and
billing-events.jsonl are append-only evidence logs with unique event ids.
cost-budget.json may declare planned token use and an official-list projected
ceiling. bin/valp cost report <task> calculates accumulated and projected
estimates per agent and in total. Actual billed amounts are shown only from
billing events; no billing event produces actual_billed: null.
Each usage event may bind its spend to dispatch_id, work_item_id, a prior
usage event through retry_of, and a spawning Agent through parent_agent.
The deterministic report preserves these links in usage_attribution, so retry
and sub-Agent cost remain visible instead of being folded into an unexplained
per-Agent total.
bin/valp audit fails when a cost report differs from its snapshots/events,
contains an actual charge without billing evidence, duplicates event ids, or
exceeds a declared projected official-list budget.