Reducing workflow credit & LLM cost

Analyze the current workflow and suggest changes to reduce credit consumption and LLM costs without sacrificing quality.

Process

1. Read the workflow using clay workflows graph get <workflowId> --mode full to get all node details
2. Identify cost drivers — LLM calls, Clay action usage, model selection
3. Present optimization opportunities with estimated impact, alongside a render of the current graph (clay workflows diagram <workflowId>) with the expensive nodes called out so the user can see where the cost lives
4. Apply authorized changes — edit the workflow only when the user's request authorizes modifications, via clay workflows nodes update/create/delete. Once authorized, apply clearly safe optimizations as you go and ask before changes with a material quality or behavior trade-off
5. Show the result — after applying, run clay workflows graph format <workflowId> and render the updated graph so the change is visible

Narrate throughout and prefer the diagram over raw node JSON — see the workflows-cli skill's presenting.md.

Cost Drivers in Clay Workflows

LLM Calls (biggest cost driver)

Every regular (LLM) node makes at least one LLM call per execution. More capable models cost more.