Agent spend is becoming an operational design problem, not just a procurement detail.
The useful question is no longer whether a model used many tokens. The useful question is whether the agent completed work that would otherwise cost more human time, coordination, review, or delay. A high-token run that produces a reviewed fix can be cheaper than a low-token run that leaves unclear output behind.
That does not mean usage should be unlimited. Teams need budgets, clear task boundaries, retry visibility, and a way to compare model spend against completed outcomes. A topic brief like this should therefore track cost signals, workflow fit, and failure recovery rather than treating tokens as the only measure.