After Run(Detective)Checked after the trace lands, so it records and alerts

A research agent usually costs a few dollars a day. Then a prompt change sends it into a loop and it costs a few hundred. Cost Spike Alert adds up what your agent spent over a window and opens a violation when the total passes your limit.

Runs On

After traces land, on an Hourly, Daily, or Weekly window

You Set

A cost limit in USD, how the cost is combined (Sum is the default), and how often to check.

Your Agent Sends

Nothing extra. Normal tracing is enough.

The template starts at Sum of cost above $100, checked Daily, with Critical severity. You can change every value.

What Happens

What Traccia sees	Result
The window total is at or under your limit	No violation.
The window total goes over your limit	A violation opens. With Warn or Block, the next governed run is warned or stopped.
The total drops back under the limit in the same window	The violation resolves on its own (Auto Resolved).

This runs after the trace is accepted, so the run that triggered it is never undone. Observe records the violation. Warn also warns the next governed run. Block stops the next governed run. Ingest never rejects a trace because of a policy.

Set It Up

In the app, open Policies and click Create Policy.
Choose Cost Spike Alert under After Run.
Give the policy a name and pick its scope: the organization, a workspace, or one Agent ID.
Leave Metric on Cost. Pick an Aggregation (Sum for total spend, Avg for typical spend per trace, Max for the single most expensive trace), then set the Threshold in dollars. Set Frequency to Hourly, Daily, or Weekly.
Pick a mode. Observe only records. Warn and Block act on the next governed run.
Turn on Email Alerts if you want mail when a violation opens.
On Review, run Simulate Last 7 Days to see how often it would have matched, then click Activate Policy.

Good To Know

Cost Spike Alert reports after the money is spent. To stop a call before it is charged, use Spend Cap.
Cost comes from the cost Traccia calculated for each trace. A call Traccia cannot price does not add to the total.
Violations show in the Violations tab with how the total was calculated, and Email Alerts can notify your team.

Where You See Results

Open the policy's Violations tab for what needs attention and Decision Log for every check. See Violations for the full lifecycle.

Next Steps

Spend Cap

Stop a call before it is charged.

Costs

See where the money went.

Policies

Every template, plus Observe, Warn, and Block.