| This text initially appeared on Medium. Tim O’Brien has given us permission to repost right here on Radar. |
Whenever you’re working with AI instruments like Cursor or GitHub Copilot, the actual energy isn’t simply gaining access to totally different fashions—it’s realizing when to make use of them. Some jobs are OK with Auto. Others want a stronger mannequin. And typically you need to bail and swap in the event you proceed spending cash on a posh drawback with a lower-quality mannequin. In the event you don’t, you’ll waste each money and time.
And that is the lacking dialogue in code technology. There are a couple of “camps” right here; the vast majority of individuals writing about this seem to view this as a fantastical and enjoyable “vibe coding” expertise, and some individuals on the market try to make use of this expertise to ship actual merchandise. In case you are in that final class, you’ve most likely began to comprehend that you could spend a unbelievable amount of cash in the event you don’t have a method for mannequin choice.
Let’s make it very particular—in the event you join Cursor and drop $20/month on a subscription utilizing Auto and you might be proud of the output, there’s not a lot to fret about. However in case you are beginning to run brokers in parallel and are paying for token consumption atop a month-to-month subscription, this submit will make sense. In my very own expertise, a single developer working alone can simply spend $200–$300/day (or 4 occasions that determine) if they’re attempting to deal with a challenge and have opted for the costliest mannequin.
And—in case you are an organization and also you give your builders limitless entry to those instruments—prepare for some surprises.
My Escalation Ladder for Fashions…
- Begin right here: Auto. Let Cursor path to a powerful mannequin with good capability. If output high quality degrades or the loop happens, escalate the problem. (Cursor explicitly says Auto selects amongst premium fashions and can swap when output is degraded.)
- Medium-complexity duties: Sonnet 4/GPT‑5/Gemini. Use for targeted duties on a handful of information: sturdy unit checks, focused refactors, API remodels.
- Heavy elevate: Sonnet 4 – 1 million. If I have to do one thing that requires extra context, however I nonetheless don’t wish to pay high greenback, I’ve been beginning to transfer up fashions that don’t rapidly max out on context.
- Ultraheavy elevate: Opus 4/4.1. Use this when the duty spans a number of initiatives or requires lengthy context and cautious reasoning, then swap again as soon as the massive transfer is completed. (Anthropic positions Opus 4 as a deep‑reasoning, lengthy‑horizon mannequin for coding and agent workflows.)
Auto works tremendous, however there are occasions when you’ll be able to sense that it’s chosen the unsuitable mannequin, and in the event you use these fashions sufficient, if you end up Gemini Professional output by the verbosity or the ChatGPT fashions by the best way they go about fixing an issue.
I’ll admit that my heavy and ultraheavy decisions listed below are biased in the direction of the fashions I’ve had extra expertise with—your personal expertise may range. Nonetheless, you must also have the same escalation checklist. Begin with Auto and solely improve if you have to; in any other case, you’ll study some classes about how a lot this prices.
Watch Out for “Pondering” Mannequin Prices
Some fashions assist specific “pondering” (longer reasoning). Helpful, however costlier. Cursor’s docs be aware that enabling pondering on particular Sonnet variations can depend as two requests beneath staff request accounting, and within the particular person plans, the identical thought interprets to extra tokens burned. Briefly, pondering mode is great—use it whenever you want it.
And when do you want it? My rule of thumb right here is that after I perceive what must be performed already, after I’m asking for a unit take a look at to be polished or a way to be executed within the sample of one other… I often don’t want a pondering mannequin. However, if I’m asking it to investigate an issue and suggest numerous choices for me to select from, or (one thing I do usually) after I’m asking it to problem my selections and play satan’s advocate, I’ll pay the premium for the perfect mannequin.
Max Mode and When to Use It
In the event you want big context home windows or prolonged reasoning (e.g., sweeping modifications throughout 20+ information), Max Mode may also help—however it’ll eat extra utilization. Make Max Mode a momentary software, not your default. If you end up continually requiring Max Mode to be turned on, there’s a great probability you might be “overapplying” this expertise.
If it must eat 1,000,000 tokens for hours on finish? That’s often a touch that you just want one other programmer. Extra on that later, however what I’ve seen too usually are managers who assume that is just like the “vibe coding” they’re witnessing. Spoiler alert: Vibe coding is that factor that individuals do in shows as a result of it takes 5 minutes to make a foolish online game. It’s 100% not programming, and to make use of codegen, right here’s the key: It’s important to perceive the way to program.
Max Mode and pondering fashions aren’t a shortcut, and neither are they a substitute for good programmers. In the event you assume they’re, you’ll be paying high greenback for code that may sooner or later should be rewritten by a great programmer utilizing these similar instruments.
Most Vital Tip: Watch Your Invoice as It Occurs
Crucial tip is to repeatedly monitor your utilization and utilization charges in Cursor, since they seem inside a minute or two of working one thing. You may see utilization by the minute, the variety of tokens consumed, and in some circumstances, how a lot you’re being charged past your subscription. Make a behavior of checking a few occasions a day, particularly throughout heavy classes, and ideally each half hour. This helps you catch runaway prices—like spending $100 an hour—earlier than they get out of hand, which is completely potential in the event you’re working many parallel brokers or doing resource-intensive work. Paying consideration ensures you keep answerable for each your utilization and your invoice.
Preserve Monitor and Keep away from Loops
The opposite factor you have to do is hold observe of what works and what doesn’t. Over time, you’ll discover it’s very simple to make errors, and the fashions themselves can typically fall into loops. You may give an instruction, and as a substitute of resolving it, the system retains working the identical course of time and again. In the event you’re not paying consideration, you’ll be able to burn by quite a lot of tokens—and some huge cash—with out truly getting sound output. That’s why it’s important to look at your classes intently and be able to interrupt if one thing appears prefer it’s caught.
One other pitfall is pushing the fashions past their limits. There are duties they will’t deal with effectively, and when that occurs, it’s tempting to maintain rephrasing the request and asking once more, hoping for a greater end result. In follow, that usually results in the identical cycle of failure, besides you’re footing the invoice for each try. Realizing the place the boundaries are and when to cease is essential.
A sensible solution to keep on high of that is to take care of a working diary of what labored and what didn’t. Report prompts, outcomes, and notes about effectivity so you’ll be able to study from expertise as a substitute of repeating costly errors. Mixed with keeping track of your stay utilization metrics, this behavior will provide help to refine your strategy and keep away from losing each money and time.
