Independent AI Project Economics
MarginCompass is designed to show observed project-level AI cost in currency against an explicit AI budget or client cap, then carry the evidence into an alert and a recorded human decision.
For software agencies managing AI-assisted client work—not token analytics, invoicing, or general job costing.
Requires installing MarginCompass Connect on each developer machine whose usage should count. macOS and Linux at launch; Windows is not supported.
Sign-in is temporarily unavailable
The Home and Product information remains available. Try again later if you already have pilot access.
Absorbed policy · AI budget
Actual AI cost: 1,640 euros of a 2,000 euro AI budget.
€360 remains in the AI budget.
82% consumed80% attention threshold
Attention required
Latest included economic day 2026-08-11 · coverage bounded; completeness unknown
The commercial question
The same observed AI cost means something different when the agency absorbs it within a project budget and when the project policy designates it for pass-through under a client cap.
Currency against project policy is primary. Tokens and model details remain secondary evidence.
Policy
MarginCompass is designed to keep the economic interpretation tied to the commercial policy chosen for the project.
€1,640
read two ways
The agency bears the observed AI cost. MarginCompass is designed to compare it with the project’s AI budget. Remaining AI budget is not remaining project margin.
Against the AI budget€2,000
€1,640 consumed€360 remains
Absorbed policy. €1,640 consumed of a €2,000 AI budget. €360 remains in the AI budget. The €1,640 actual cost reduces project margin by €1,640.
The policy designates observed AI cost for pass-through. MarginCompass is designed to compare it with the client cap without determining what can be invoiced or contractually recovered.
Against the client cap€2,000
€1,640 designated€360 remains
Pass-through policy. €1,640 of a €2,000 client cap is policy-designated for pass-through. €360 remains under the client cap. MarginCompass does not determine what can be invoiced or recovered.
The same observed cost has different meaning under each policy
Illustrative example — not live project data
The loop
Each project is designed to require an Absorbed or Pass-through policy and its AI budget or client cap.
MarginCompass Connect is designed to aggregate Claude Code usage locally. Accepted daily usage facts are then designed to be priced and attributed to the project.
MarginCompass is designed to record an in-app alert when observed cost reaches at least 80% of the active AI budget or client cap.
MarginCompass is designed to preserve the trigger evidence so the owner can review it and record one explicit outcome. MarginCompass does not perform the follow-up action.
Bounded economic evidence
MarginCompass Connect is designed to send daily aggregated usage facts, provider-reported model, date, and a pseudonymous source key so the server can price and attribute project economics.
Raw events, prompts, responses, source code, diffs, file contents, absolute paths, and vendor credentials are designed to stay out of the server.
Project views are designed to identify the source, project attribution, latest included economic day, coverage boundary, and pricing or FX provenance where applicable.
The latest included economic day bounds the evidence. It does not prove complete coverage.
Scope
MarginCompass is not a token tracker, usage optimizer, invoicing tool, timesheet system, CRM, ERP, forecasting engine, or autonomous decision-maker.
It frames an observed position against project policy. It does not forecast completion cost, guarantee early warning, or prevent an overrun.
An AI budget is not a complete project-margin calculation.
A client cap does not establish what can be invoiced or contractually recovered.
Existing access
MarginCompass has no public application. Sign in if you already have access — the founder provisions access directly, one agency at a time.
Sign-in is temporarily unavailable
The Home and Product information remains available. Try again later if you already have pilot access.
There is no published opening date, capacity, or duration.