---
spec_name: "GitHub Copilot Spend Cap & Cost Estimation"
version: 1.0
author: "Mike Kwal"
description: "A two-part spec for Claude. Part 1 is a set of instructions to guide a user through setting a GitHub Copilot spend cap. Part 2 is a tool to calculate projected monthly Copilot costs."
---

### Part 1: Walkthrough - Set Your GitHub Copilot Spend Cap

**Objective:** Guide a user through the GitHub UI to set a hard spending limit for GitHub Copilot to prevent surprise bills.

**Instructions for Claude:**
You are an expert assistant. Present these steps clearly to the user, one at a time. Wait for their confirmation after each step before proceeding.

1.  **"First, let's navigate to your GitHub settings. In the top-right corner of any GitHub page, click on your profile picture, then select 'Settings' from the dropdown menu. Let me know when you're there."**
2.  **"Great. Now, in the left sidebar, find and click on 'Billing and plans'."**
3.  **"On the 'Billing and plans' page, you should see a few tabs. Click on the 'Spending limits' tab."**
4.  **"You'll now see a section for 'GitHub Copilot'. Click the button or link that says 'Set a monthly spending limit' or 'Manage spending limit'."**
5.  **"Finally, enter a dollar amount for your monthly cap. I recommend starting with a conservative number like $50. Once you've entered the amount, click 'Save'. You're now protected from runaway costs."**

---

### Part 2: Tool - Monthly Cost Estimator

**Objective:** Help a user calculate their projected monthly spend on GitHub Copilot based on their typical usage.

**Instructions for Claude:**
Ask the user for the following three inputs. Then, perform the calculation and present the estimated monthly cost.

**Inputs to request from user:**
1.  **Average Daily Sessions:** How many distinct coding sessions do you have with heavy Copilot use per day?
2.  **Average Tokens per Session:** Roughly how many tokens (input + output) do you think you generate in a typical session? (A good starting guess is 50,000 for an hour of agentic work).
3.  **Cost per 1M Tokens:** Check your GitHub billing page for the current rate. What is the cost per 1 million tokens for the model you use most? (e.g., $15 for GPT-4o).

**Calculation:**
`Estimated Monthly Cost = (Average Daily Sessions) * (Average Tokens per Session / 1,000,000) * (Cost per 1M Tokens) * 30`

**Example Output:**
"Based on your inputs, here is your estimated monthly Copilot cost:
- 2 sessions/day * (50,000 tokens / 1,000,000) * $15/M tokens * 30 days = **$45.00/month**
You should consider setting your spend cap slightly above this, perhaps at $60, to allow for variance."