# Hermes Model Usage Report
**2026-08-09** | 30-Day Window (Jul 10 – Aug 9, 2026)  
Source: LiteLLM SpendLogs (93,786 requests, PostgreSQL on app1)

---

## Headline Numbers (Last 7 Days)

| Metric | deepseek-v4-pro | claude-sonnet-5 |
|--------|----------------|-----------------|
| Call volume | 14,024 | 154 |
| Spend | $39.20 | $7.30 |
| Avg cost/call | $0.0028 | $0.0474 |
| Share of calls | 98.9% | 1.1% |
| Share of spend | 84.3% | 15.7% |
| Est. 30-day spend | ~$183 | ~$44 |

DeepSeek V4 Pro is 17× cheaper per call and handles 99% of volume.

---

## Sonnet 5 Daily Breakdown

| Date | Calls | Spend | Context |
|------|-------|-------|---------|
| Aug 9 (today) | 3 | $0.05 | Early, still running |
| **Aug 8** | **73** | **$6.56** | Audit remediation — subagent cascading |
| Aug 7 | 11 | $0.23 | Normal dev day |
| Aug 6 | 6 | $0.01 | Model eval / testing |
| Aug 5 | 20 | $0.14 | |
| Aug 4 | 19 | $0.15 | |
| Aug 3 | 5 | $0.03 | Weekend |
| Aug 2 | 20 | $0.13 | |
| Aug 1 | 43 | $4.17 | Elevated — subagent routing |
| **Jul 31** | **146** | **$17.78** | Hit $20 daily cap — 89% of day's spend was Sonnet 5 |
| Jul 30 | 62 | $6.83 | |
| Jul 29 | 7 | $0.00 | |
| Jul 28 | 0 | $0.00 | |
| Jul 27 | 2 | $0.00 | |
| Jul 26 | 1 | $0.00 | |
| Jul 25 | 52 | $3.34 | |
| Jul 24 | 87 | $6.72 | |
| Jul 23 | 4 | $0.00 | |
| Jul 22 | 0 | $0.00 | |
| Jul 21 | 0 | $0.00 | |
| Jul 20 | 0 | $0.00 | |
| Jul 19 | 0 | $0.00 | |
| Jul 18 | 1 | $0.00 | |
| Jul 17 | 0 | $0.00 | |
| Jul 16 | 0 | $0.00 | |
| Jul 15 | 0 | $0.00 | |
| Jul 14 | 2 | $0.00 | |
| Jul 13 | 0 | $0.00 | |
| Jul 12 | 34 | $12.75 | Model eval pipeline |
| Jul 11 | 0 | $0.00 | |
| Jul 10 | 12 | $0.02 | |

**Typical normal day:** ~11 Sonnet 5 calls, ~$0.25/day  
**Anomaly days:** Jul 31 ($17.78), Aug 1 ($4.17), Aug 8 ($6.56) account for 63% of all Sonnet 5 spend this month

---

## 30-Day Daily Spend Trend

```
Date       Total Spend   Sonnet 5    Total Calls   Sonnet Calls
Aug 09        $1.42         $0.05         362             3
Aug 08       $16.00         $6.56       3,147            73
Aug 07        $6.44         $0.93       1,787            42
Aug 06        $3.06         $0.01       1,493            11
Aug 05        $7.96         $0.14       3,147            20
Aug 04        $5.14         $0.15       1,679            19
Aug 03        $2.91         $0.03         996             5
Aug 02        $5.72         $0.13       2,556            20
Aug 01       $10.29         $4.17       2,354            43
Jul 31       $20.01        $17.78       1,130           146 ⬅ cap hit
Jul 30       $10.29         $6.83       2,073            62
Jul 29        $3.60         $0.00       2,660             7
Jul 28        $3.41         $0.00       2,420             0
Jul 27        $1.38         $0.00       1,192             2
Jul 26        $1.02         $0.00         332             1
Jul 25        $6.29         $3.34         985            52
Jul 24       $59.71         $6.72       1,066            87
Jul 23       $37.92         $0.00       1,023             4
Jul 22       $67.03         $0.00       1,042             0
Jul 21        $4.77         $0.00         140             0
Jul 20        $4.20         $0.00       1,301             0
Jul 19        $0.81         $0.00         109             0
Jul 18        $0.17         $0.00          90             1
Jul 17        $2.17         $0.00         168             0
Jul 16        $1.42         $0.00         396             0
Jul 15        $5.83         $0.00       1,545             0
Jul 14        $2.34         $0.00       1,305             2
Jul 13       $57.49         $0.00       3,061             0
Jul 12       $99.86        $12.75       3,920            34 ⬅ biggest spike
Jul 11        $0.18         $0.00       1,656             0
Jul 10       $21.89         $0.02       4,544            12
```

**August normal days:** $3–8/day typical, $10–16/day on heavy remediation days

---

## Prompt Caching Status

```
cache_hit = 0 across ALL models, ALL calls, ALL 30 days
```

Prompt caching is **not enabled**. Hermes does not send Anthropic cache control headers. The LiteLLM proxy passes them through natively — enabling requires a client-side change only.

### Caching Economics

Anthropic Claude Sonnet 5 introductory pricing (through Aug 31, 2026):

| Scenario | Input $/M tokens |
|----------|-----------------|
| No caching (current) | $2.00 |
| Cache write (5 min TTL) | $2.50 |
| Cache write (1 hr TTL) | $4.00 |
| Cache hit | **$0.20** (90% off) |

After Sep 1, 2026: base input rises to $3/M, cache hits to $0.30/M.

**Projected savings for Hermes workload** (large system prompts, repeated across turns):

| Cache hit rate | Input cost reduction | Monthly savings |
|---------------|---------------------|-----------------|
| 70% | –53% | ~$15–25 |
| 90% | –81% | ~$20–35 |

---

## Key Spend Anomalies — Root Cause Analysis

| Date | Spend | Root Cause |
|------|-------|-----------|
| **Jul 12** | $99.86 | **gpt-5.5 eval pipeline.** 196 calls to gpt-5.5 ($66.42 — 67% of day) with 219K avg prompt tokens. 94 calls alone at 23:00 ($43.55 in one hour). `deepseek-v4-flash` added 1,846 eval calls ($2.87). Model catalog audit against all 128 models. Not Hermes. |
| **Jul 13** | $57.49 | **gpt-5.5 eval pipeline (continuation).** 30 calls for $56.23 (98% of day) with 458K avg prompt tokens. Three overnight bursts: midnight ($15.36), 3 AM ($29.00), 4 AM ($11.87). DeepSeek V4 Pro handled all other traffic ($1.21). |
| **Jul 22–24** | $37–67/day | **gpt-5.5 → gpt-5.6-terra eval pipeline.** Fewer calls (1,023–1,066) but 10–20× normal cost per call. gpt-5.5 at $63.93 (Jul 22), gpt-5.6-terra at $31.64 (Jul 23) and $50.22 (Jul 24). Avg prompt size: 309K–397K tokens. Each eval call cost $0.30–$1.50 vs normal $0.003. |
| **Jul 31** | $20.01 | **$20 daily cap breached.** 146 Sonnet 5 calls ($17.78 — 89% of spend). Subagent `delegation.model` was pinned to `claude-sonnet-5`, bypassing the conductor's model routing. Fixed Aug 1 by switching delegation back to `deepseek-v4-pro`. |

All four anomalies share a common root: **the July model evaluation pipeline** hitting gpt-5.5 and gpt-5.6-terra through admin-ai with enormous evaluation-sized contexts. These models were never in Hermes' production chain — the eval runner discovered them in the proxy catalog and tested them. The Jul 31 event was a separate bug: subagent delegation config hard-overriding to Sonnet 5.

---

## Data Source Limitation

> **This report only covers LiteLLM-proxied traffic (admin-ai). It is blind to direct fallback provider spend.**

The fallback chain operates outside admin-ai: `deepseek direct → google direct → xai direct → anthropic direct`. When admin-ai is unreachable or the daily cap is hit, traffic falls through to these keys. Spend there is invisible to LiteLLM SpendLogs.

**Known gap:** Aug 5 actual spend was ~$45 (per changelog) but LiteLLM shows only $7.96. The ~$37 delta went through direct provider keys.

**Fix needed:** Real-time cost monitoring requires a second feed polling each provider's usage API directly. Without it, a fallback cascade can silently burn through provider credits with no alert.

---

## Verdict

> **The model chain is correct and working as designed. Cost is under control for the proxied path. The fallback path is a blind spot that needs monitoring.**

- DeepSeek V4 Pro: 99% of calls, ~$5.60/day — the workhorse
- Sonnet 5: 1.1% of calls (~11/day typical), genuine rare override — not a silent runaway
- July's $271 in anomaly spend (Jul 12–24) was the model evaluation pipeline hitting non-production models — not Hermes
- August baseline: $3–8/day typical, $10–16/day on heavy remediation days
- The model chain doc matches reality: `deepseek-v4-pro` primary, `claude-sonnet-5` for critical escalation

**Three action items:**

1. **Enable Anthropic prompt caching** — 80–90% off cached input tokens. Client-side change only. Must be done before Sep 1 ($2→$3 base price increase).
2. **Implement fallback provider monitoring** — direct API polling of DeepSeek, Google, xAI, and Anthropic usage endpoints. The LiteLLM SpendLogs are blind to ~30–50% of actual spend on failover days.
3. **Tag eval pipeline traffic** — any automated model testing must use a dedicated LiteLLM key with its own budget cap. The July anomalies contaminated 30 days of production cost data.