{
 "format": "LSC-1",
 "lsc": "LSC-1",
 "edition": "E1",
 "cut": "2026-10-09",
 "name": "THE TOKEN COST CARD",
 "handle": "token-cost-card",
 "number": "UNSEATED",
 "house": "THE INSTRUMENTS",
 "wing": "THE APPLIED-AI WING",
 "role": "what the workload costs, from your own sheet",
 "tagline": "Your prices, your logs, the arithmetic — and the date on every figure.",
 "sigil": "◆",
 "hue": "#4A3BC4",
 "punch": "8989FC80124CF56A8C5D22F3",
 "punch_of": "SKILL.md · sha-256 · first 24",
 "score": 98,
 "tier": "LEGENDARY",
 "layer": "WITNESSED",
 "score_line": "SELFTEST 13/13 · FOUR COMMANDS ON THE RECORD",
 "honest_line": "I'm an AI reading a card. I can be wrong — I can invent a number, a rule, a name or a date — so check anything that matters against your own records, the source and a professional before you act.",
 "term": "one purchase · yours to keep · nothing renews itself",
 "wakes": "someone asks what a model workload will cost, how many tokens, or whether caching pays",
 "loop": [
  "tokencost.py new · copy prices in, dated",
  "tokens · the prompt and the documents",
  "estimate · a call, the run, cached or not",
  "usage · the real log: by model, latency",
  "cut the prompt before cutting the model"
 ],
 "laws": [
  "**The card types no price.** The figures come from the provider's page, copied by you, with the date; the sheet refuses to run on placeholders.",
  "**A figure without a date is a rumour.** Every estimate prints the sheet's date beside it.",
  "**Output tokens cost most.** Length is the first lever; the model is the last.",
  "**The system prompt is paid for on every call.** Cache it where allowed, trim it where it is not earning its place.",
  "**Measure, then estimate.** A usage log beats any forecast; the estimate is for what has not run yet.",
  "**An estimate is a budget line, not a bill.** Say so when it is quoted."
 ],
 "never": [
  "type a price the provider did not publish",
  "quote a figure without the sheet's date",
  "call an estimate a bill"
 ],
 "machine": "scripts/tokencost.py · new · tokens · estimate · usage · selftest",
 "proof": "selftest 13/13 · FOUR commands on the record",
 "faces": [
  "card.svg",
  "card-machine.svg"
 ],
 "box": [
  "SKILL.md",
  "CARD.md",
  "TIN.md",
  "START-HERE.md",
  "LICENSE-NOTE.md",
  "THE-CLAUSES.md",
  "MY-LEDGER.md",
  "WITNESS.md",
  "SELFTEST.md",
  "AUDIT.md",
  "MANIFEST.md",
  "HOSTS.md",
  "scripts/tokencost.py",
  "references/WHERE-THE-MONEY-GOES.md",
  "rules/ (4 doors)",
  "system/ (2 prompts)",
  "mcp/mcp_card.py",
  "card.json",
  "card.svg",
  "card-machine.svg",
  "card.html"
 ],
 "hundred": "Trigger 5 · Machinery 5 · Law 5 · Portability 5 · Proof 5 — 25 of 25 → 98 of 100 · LEGENDARY"
}