Preview Convex spend — rank functions by bytes/documents-read × call-volume from insights, project each cost driver's growth curve, name the cheapest fix; confirm-cost for paid actions.
Intro in this page language first. The official description stays in its original wording; we do not rewrite SKILL.md.
What it does
Preview Convex spend — rank functions by bytes/documents-read × call-volume from insights, project each cost driver's growth curve, name the cheapest fix; confirm-cost for paid actions.
When to use it
The official description does not include a separate “Use when”. Per the spec, agents activate this skill when the task matches keywords in that description.
How agents load it
Per Agent Skills progressive disclosure: name and description load at startup (~100 tokens); the full SKILL.md body loads when the skill activates; scripts/, references/, and assets/ load only as needed. This file's sections: Preview what this app will cost; Workflow; Rules. It includes spec-recommended sections: step-by-step instructions.
File analysis
File analysis: instruction-only skill (SKILL.md). The agent loads the full body when activated.
Preview Convex spend — rank functions by bytes/documents-read × call-volume from insights, project each cost driver's growth curve, name the cheapest fix; confirm-cost for paid actions.
DiscoverThe client exposes names and descriptions to the agent.
ActivateYour request or the task context selects the skill and loads its instructions.
Load resourcesReferenced scripts, documentation and assets are used when needed.
Choose the target agent and installation scope, keep referenced package files, then verify the skill appears in the client's catalog.
Ask your Agent to install
Copy these instructions to a compatible agent and confirm the target directory matches your client.
Install the agent skill "convex-cost" into my project. The full SKILL.md and official description are at https://zicq.com/en/skills/skl-fc069f7bb7e79359-Convex-Cost.html
Save it as .cursor/skills/convex-cost/SKILL.md or .claude/skills/convex-cost/SKILL.md and keep the frontmatter name and description exactly as-is.
The CLI lets you choose the agent interactively. The default scope is the project; use -g for user scope. Confirm package availability with the discovery command, then use npx skills list to inspect installed skills.
Readable layout
---
name: convex-cost
description: "Preview Convex spend — rank functions by bytes/documents-read × call-volume from insights, project each cost driver's growth curve, name the cheapest fix; confirm-cost for paid actions."
---
# Preview what this app will cost
Cost surprises come from a handful of functions reading far more data than anyone realized — the same read-heavy patterns convex-advisor flags for perf, seen through the money lens. This capability makes spend legible: it reads the deployment's own bytes/documents-read evidence, attributes it to the functions driving it, projects how it grows with traffic, and names the cheapest fix. It also carries the confirm-cost discipline (Supabase's structural consent for paid actions): before anything metered, state the price and get an explicit yes.
## Workflow
1. GUARD: deploy-guard — a cost read is read-only over dev/prod (insights is cloud+user-auth only; not previews). Announce the deployment.
2. GATHER the spend evidence via the official MCP: `insights` for the bytes-read / documents-read events (the direct cost signal — Convex bills on function calls + bandwidth), `tables` for row counts (a table's size bounds its scan cost), `functionSpec` for the surface. If there's no usage/traffic yet, say so and estimate from the query SHAPES instead (a `.collect()` on a table projected to grow is a future cost even with zero traffic today).
3. ATTRIBUTE: rank functions by bytes/documents read per call × observed (or asked-about) call volume — the product is the cost driver, not either alone. A cheap-per-call function called constantly can outweigh an expensive rare one; show both factors.
4. PROJECT: state how the top drivers scale — a full-table `.collect()` grows LINEARLY with the table (cost compounds as data accumulates); an indexed `.take(n)` stays flat. Give the user the shape of the curve ('this is O(table size) per call — fine at 1k rows, a bill at 1M'), not a false-precision dollar figure.
5. NAME THE CHEAPEST FIX per driver — index + `.withIndex` instead of scan, `.paginate`/`.take` instead of `.collect`, an aggregate component for counts, caching a hot read — and emit it as a cost-class finding on the bus (evidence: the insight event + the projected growth) pointing at convex-expert/convex-advisor for the actual change.
6. CONFIRM-COST for paid actions: if the flow includes anything metered (a domain purchase, cloud provisioning, a plan change), STATE the price and recurrence explicitly and get an explicit yes BEFORE proceeding — never let a paid action happen as a side effect (the cost-confirm gate).
7. REPORT: the current cost drivers ranked, each with its evidence + growth shape + fix, and a plain bottom line ('your spend is dominated by messages:list reading the whole table every call; index it and it drops ~100x'). Honest precision: Convex pricing changes and depends on plan — give relative/shape guidance and cite the pricing page for absolute numbers rather than inventing a dollar total.
## Rules
- Cost = data-read-per-call × call-volume — always show both factors; a cheap function called constantly can cost more than an expensive rare one.
- Read the deployment's own insights/bytes-read evidence for spend; with no traffic yet, price the query SHAPES (a scan on a growing table is a future cost).
- Give the growth CURVE, not false-precision dollars: O(table) scans compound as data accumulates; indexed access stays flat. Cite the pricing page for absolute figures.
- Every cost driver names its cheapest fix and emits a cost-class finding on the bus pointing at the fixer (convex-expert/advisor).
- Confirm-cost for any metered/paid action: state the price + recurrence and get an explicit yes BEFORE it happens — never as a side effect.
- Read-only over dev/prod (deploy-guard); insights is cloud+user-auth only. Cost composes convex-advisor's evidence but frames it as money, not latency.