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feat: Economy mode for cost-conscious model selection #500

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#504
#503
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feat: Economy mode for cost-conscious model selection#500
#504
#503
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enhancementNew feature or improvementgo:needs-researchNeeds investigationnext-upPriority queue — next issues to workpriority:p1This sprintsquadSquad triage inbox — Lead will assign to a membertype:featureNew capability

Description

@bradygaster
bradygaster
opened on Mar 22, 2026

Problem

Some users want to keep using Squad but on cheaper or free models. Right now Squad's model selection optimizes for quality, which burns through premium model quotas fast.

Proposed Solution

Add an economy mode that flips Squad's model selection to prefer cheaper/free models:

New Skill: Economy Mode Selection

Add .squad/skills/economy-mode/SKILL.md with an alternative model selection table:

Task Output Normal Mode Economy Mode
Writing code claude-sonnet-4.5 gpt-4.1 or gpt-5-mini
Docs, planning, triage claude-haiku-4.5 gpt-4.1 or gpt-5-mini
Architecture/review claude-opus-4.6 claude-sonnet-4.5
Scribe/mechanical claude-haiku-4.5 gpt-4.1

Activation

  • Session: "use economy mode" / "save costs"
  • Persistent: Add "economyMode": true to .squad/config.json
  • CLI flag: squad --economy or squad --frugal

Model Catalog Update

As part of this work, audit the current model catalog in squad.agent.md and update to reflect the latest available models in the Copilot platform.

Attribution

Thanks to Joe for this idea — came out of user group discussion. Many users want Squad but need to be mindful of quotas and costs.

Acceptance Criteria

  • Economy mode skill with alternative model selection table
  • Session-level activation via directive
  • Persistent activation via config.json
  • Model catalog audit and update in squad.agent.md
  • Documentation in guide

Activity

  1. bradygaster
    added
    squadSquad triage inbox — Lead will assign to a member
    type:featureNew capability
    priority:p1This sprint
    enhancementNew feature or improvement
    next-upPriority queue — next issues to work
    on Mar 22, 2026
  2. github-actions
    added
    squad:fido
    on Mar 22, 2026

  3. github-actions commented on Mar 22, 2026

    @github-actions
    github-actionsBot
    on Mar 22, 2026 – with GitHub Actions
    Contributor

    🏗️ Squad Triage — Flight (Lead)

    Issue: #500 — feat: Economy mode for cost-conscious model selection
    Assigned to: FIDO (Quality Owner)
    Reason: Issue relates to testing/quality work

    @copilot evaluation: 🔴 Not suitable — issue involves work outside the coding agent's capability profile.

    Team roster:

    • Flight (Lead) → label: squad:flight
    • Procedures (Prompt Engineer) → label: squad:procedures
    • EECOM (Core Dev) → label: squad:eecom
    • FIDO (Quality Owner) → label: squad:fido
    • PAO (DevRel) → label: squad:pao
    • CAPCOM (SDK Expert) → label: squad:capcom
    • CONTROL (TypeScript Engineer) → label: squad:control
    • Surgeon (Release Manager) → label: squad:surgeon
    • Booster (CI/CD Engineer) → label: squad:booster
    • GNC (Node.js Runtime) → label: squad:gnc
    • Network (Distribution) → label: squad:network
    • RETRO (Security) → label: squad:retro
    • INCO (CLI UX & Visual Design) → label: squad:inco
    • GUIDO (VS Code Extension) → label: squad:guido
    • Telemetry (Aspire & Observability) → label: squad:telemetry
    • VOX (REPL & Interactive Shell) → label: squad:vox
    • DSKY (TUI Engineer) → label: squad:dsky
    • Sims (E2E Test Engineer) → label: squad:sims
    • Handbook (SDK Usability) → label: squad:handbook
    • Ralph (Work Monitor) → label: squad:ralph
    • @copilot (Coding Agent) → label: squad:copilot

    To reassign, remove the current squad:* label and add the correct one.

  4. github-actions
    added
    go:needs-researchNeeds investigation
    on Mar 22, 2026
  5. bradygaster
    added 3 commits that reference this issue on Mar 22, 2026

    feat: economy mode skill, governance proposals for #500 and #344

    1ae753c

    feat: economy mode for cost-conscious model selection (#500)

    e35d5a3

    Scribe: Wave 1 decisions merged (#329/#344/#500)

    d4e9642
  6. bradygaster
    closed this as completedin b741222on Mar 22, 2026
  7. bradygaster
    added 3 commits that reference this issue on Mar 22, 2026

    feat: economy mode for cost-conscious model selection (#500) (#504)

    a30252f

    feat: economy mode skill, governance proposals for #500 and #344 (#503)

    f86367c

    docs: log session 2 — wave 1+2 results, 4 PRs merged

    d262715
  8. diberry
    added a commit that references this issue on Mar 22, 2026

    fix: hard-fail on Node <22.5.0 with clear message (github#502) (githu…

    b741222
  9. chrislomonico
    added a commit that references this issue on Mar 26, 2026

    feat(repl): Ctrl+C cancellation + configurable timeout (github#538)

    d6ccc19
  10. bradygaster
    removed
    squad:fido
    on Sep 11, 2026
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