> Markdown version of [/events/conference-india-2026/sessions/2034-stop-counting-tokens](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/events/conference-india-2026/sessions/2034-stop-counting-tokens). Every page supports `.md` or `Accept: text/markdown`. Links point to the HTML versions so they work for humans too. Agent guide: [/agents.md](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/agents.md).

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# Stop Counting Tokens, Start Making Them Count


- **Event:** Conference India 2026

## Description

As AI coding agents move to usage-based billing, the question shifts from "does it work?" to "what did it cost to get there?" The common reaction — shorter prompts and token-counting — optimizes the wrong thing.


This session reframes the problem around agent quality as the cheapest optimization. It covers the mental model that makes cost legible: how a model differs from its harness, why a prompt is only the visible tip of the context window, and why output is the expensive part. It then walks through the practical levers — model choice, context engineering, Research → Plan → Implement, and deterministic guardrails — that reduce waste while preserving quality.

## Speaker

### [Vicky Israni](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/@vicky-israni)

Senior Solutions Engineer, GitHub


## Related talks at this congress

- [Prompt Debt: Why Your AI System Is Frozen in Time](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/events/conference-india-2026/sessions/1990-prompt-debt-why-your) — Suriya Prakash B
- [Teaching AI Coding Agents to Build It Right the First Time](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/events/conference-india-2026/sessions/1995-teaching-ai-coding) — Sajeetharan Sinnathurai
- [AI Is the Easy Part: Why Faster Engineers Don't Make Faster Businesses](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/events/conference-india-2026/sessions/1975-ai-is-the-easy-part) — Bharat Sharma
- [Bypassing the GPU Tax: Smart Layer-7 Routing with Small Language Models (SLMs)](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/events/conference-india-2026/sessions/2040-bypassing-the-gpu) — Sagar Utekar

## Watch remotely

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## Links

- [Get tickets](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/conference-india/tickets)