LiteLLM Budget Configuration

LiteLLM allows you to set spending limits and rate limits through budgets. This guide explains how predefined budgets work in CodeMie and how to customize them via Helm.

Overview

Budgets in LiteLLM help you control costs and manage API usage by setting:

• Soft Budget: Spending threshold in USD that triggers warnings
• Max Budget: Hard spending limit in USD that blocks requests when exceeded
• Budget Duration: Reset period after which spending counters restart
• Budget Category: Logical grouping that determines how the budget is applied

Budget Types

LiteLLM supports two types of budgets for different use cases – API Key Budget and Predefined Budgets.

API Key Budget

This budget is assigned to the specific API key used to integrate CodeMie with LiteLLM.

Recommended Configuration: Set to unlimited to ensure CodeMie service is never interrupted at the integration level.

API Key Budget Best Practice

The API key budget should not be the primary cost control mechanism. Instead, use it as a safety net to prevent unexpected issues at the integration layer.

Predefined Budgets

Predefined budgets are applied automatically to end users based on their usage category (web/API, CLI, or premium models). These are defined in budgets-config.yaml and mounted into the CodeMie pod at startup – no manual creation in the LiteLLM UI is required.

Cost Control Strategy

By setting the API key budget to unlimited and configuring predefined budgets per category, you ensure:

• CodeMie service remains available (no integration-level blocking)
• Individual users have controlled spending limits by usage type
• Easy cost management per platform category

How Budget Configuration Works

CodeMie uses a budgets-config.yaml file to define predefined budgets. This file is mounted into the pod and applied at startup. Budgets are matched to usage by their budget_category field.

Default Platform Budget

By default, the following budget is pre-configured and applied to all end users:

predefined_budgets:
  - budget_id: default
    name: Default Budget
    description: Default platform budget for new LiteLLM customers.
    soft_budget: 50.0
    max_budget: 100.0
    budget_duration: 30d
    budget_category: platform

Budget Fields Reference

Each entry in predefined_budgets supports the following fields:

Field	Type	Required	Description
budget_id	string	Yes	Unique identifier used to reference this budget in LiteLLM
name	string	Yes	Human-readable display name
description	string	No	Description of the budget's purpose
soft_budget	float	Yes	Soft limit in USD that triggers usage warnings
max_budget	float	Yes	Hard limit in USD that blocks requests when exceeded
budget_duration	string	Yes	Reset period, e.g. 30d for monthly or 7d for weekly
budget_category	string	Yes	Category that determines how this budget is applied (see Budget Categories)

Budget Categories

The budget_category field controls which type of usage the budget applies to:

Category	Description
platform	Default web/API usage for end users
cli	CodeMie CLI proxy spending
premium_models	Costly model spending via CLI

Enabling Budget Enforcement

Budget enforcement is disabled by default. To activate it, set the following environment variables in the CodeMie API deployment:

Variable	Type	Default	Description
LLM_PROXY_BUDGET_CHECK_ENABLED	boolean	false	Enables budget limit checking for LLM proxy requests
LLM_PROXY_BUDGET_SYNC_ENABLED	boolean	false	Syncs predefined budgets from budgets-config.yaml into the database on startup
LLM_PROXY_BUDGET_BACKFILL_ENABLED	boolean	false	Backfills user budget assignments from LiteLLM on startup for existing users

In Helm Values (values.yaml):

api:
  env:
    - name: LLM_PROXY_BUDGET_CHECK_ENABLED
      value: "true"
    - name: LLM_PROXY_BUDGET_SYNC_ENABLED
      value: "true"
    - name: LLM_PROXY_BUDGET_BACKFILL_ENABLED
      value: "true"

warning

LLM_PROXY_BUDGET_SYNC_ENABLED must be true for predefined budgets from budgets-config.yaml to be loaded into the database. Without it, budget definitions in the config file have no effect.

Customizing Budgets via Helm

To override the default budget or add category-specific budgets, mount a custom budgets-config.yaml using the Helm chart's extraVolumeMounts, extraVolumes, and extraObjects values.

tip

The custom budgets-config.yaml fully replaces the built-in default. Include all budgets you need – including the default platform budget – when providing a custom file.

Add the following to your Helm values:

extraVolumeMounts: |
  - name: codemie-budgets-config
    mountPath: /app/config/budgets/budgets-config.yaml
    subPath: budgets-config.yaml

extraVolumes: |
  - name: codemie-budgets-config
    configMap:
      name: codemie-budgets-config

extraObjects:
  - apiVersion: v1
    kind: ConfigMap
    metadata:
      name: codemie-budgets-config
    data:
      budgets-config.yaml: |
        predefined_budgets:
          - budget_id: default
            name: Default
            description: Default platform budget for new LiteLLM customers.
            soft_budget: 80.0
            max_budget: 120.0
            budget_duration: 30d
            budget_category: platform
          - budget_id: codemie_cli
            name: CodeMie CLI
            description: Budget for CodeMie CLI usage.
            soft_budget: 100.0
            max_budget: 150.0
            budget_duration: 30d
            budget_category: cli
          - budget_id: codemie_premium_models
            name: CodeMie Premium Models
            description: Budget for premium models usage.
            soft_budget: 20.0
            max_budget: 30.0
            budget_duration: 30d
            budget_category: premium_models

After applying the Helm values, the ConfigMap is mounted at /app/config/budgets/budgets-config.yaml inside the pod and picked up automatically.

Accessing the Budgets Page in LiteLLM UI

1. Navigate to your LiteLLM Proxy UI endpoint
2. Log in with your administrative credentials
3. From the left sidebar, click on Budgets

Creating a Budget in LiteLLM UI

Predefined budgets are managed via budgets-config.yaml (see Customizing Budgets via Helm). You can also create ad-hoc budgets directly in the LiteLLM UI for teams or projects not covered by predefined categories.

Step 1: Open Budget Creation Form

1. On the Budgets page, click the + Create Budget button in the top-left corner
2. The "Create Budget" dialog will appear

Step 2: Configure Budget Settings

Fill in the required and optional fields:

Budget ID (Required)

• Field: Budget ID
• Description: A human-friendly name for the budget
• Example: team-alpha, project-x, integration-budget

Rate Limiting (Optional)

Configure rate limits to control usage:

• Max Tokens per Minute: Limits the number of tokens processed per minute (default is model limit if not set)
• Max Requests per Minute: Limits the number of API requests per minute (default is model limit if not set)

Step 3: Create the Budget

1. Review your configuration
2. Click the Create Budget button at the bottom-right of the dialog
3. Your budget will appear in the budgets list

Premium Models Budget

For costly models such as Claude Opus or OpenAI o1, you can configure a separate budget to track and enforce spending independently from the default end-user budget. When configured, CodeMie automatically attributes premium model requests to a derived LiteLLM customer identity ({user_email}_{budget_id}), allowing you to apply stricter limits to expensive models without affecting the standard budget.

Feature Toggle

This feature activates when a budget with budget_category: premium_models is present in budgets-config.yaml and LITELLM_PREMIUM_MODELS_ALIASES is set. If neither is configured, all requests use standard budget behavior.

Step 1: Define the Premium Models Budget

Add a premium_models budget entry to your budgets-config.yaml (via Helm customization):

- budget_id: codemie_premium_models
  name: CodeMie Premium Models
  description: Budget for premium models usage.
  soft_budget: 20.0
  max_budget: 30.0
  budget_duration: 30d
  budget_category: premium_models

Step 2: Configure Premium Model Aliases

Set the LITELLM_PREMIUM_MODELS_ALIASES environment variable to specify which models are treated as premium:

# Comma-separated model name substrings that qualify as premium
LITELLM_PREMIUM_MODELS_ALIASES=opus,o1

In Helm Values (values.yaml):

api:
  env:
    - name: LITELLM_PREMIUM_MODELS_ALIASES
      value: "opus,o1"

How It Works

When a user calls the LiteLLM proxy with a model whose name contains any of the configured aliases:

1. CodeMie derives a separate LiteLLM customer identity: {user_email}_{budget_id} (e.g., john@company.com_codemie_premium_models)
2. The request is attributed to that identity for independent budget enforcement
3. Standard budget checks continue to run against the base user identity as usual

The /spending endpoint returns an additional premium_current_spending field when this feature is enabled, so you can monitor premium model costs separately.

See Also

• LiteLLM Proxy Installation Guide
• LiteLLM Model Configuration
• API Configuration Reference