Target Workflow
Daily XKCD Comic (daily-xkcd.md) — selected as highest-AIC eligible workflow (all top-5 have been optimized within 14 days; XKCD was optimized 9 days ago and has the oldest optimization date among candidates with meaningful AIC).
Analysis Period
2026-07-24 → 2026-07-30 · 7 runs · All conclusions: success · Model: claude-sonnet-4.6
Spend Profile
| Metric |
Value |
| Total AIC (7 runs) |
279.5 |
| Avg AIC / run |
39.9 |
| Min / Max AIC |
24.4 / 61.0 |
| Token-only AIC (avg) |
~13 / run |
| Action minutes (avg) |
~6 min / run |
| Avg turns |
1–7 (high variance) |
| Cache efficiency |
Cross-run: 0% · Within-run: 86–98% (turns 2+) |
Root Cause: bash/curl Retries Drive 2.5× AIC Variance
Observability flagged execution drift: runs vary from 0 to 7 turns. The agent-stdio logs reveal exactly why:
4 of 7 runs (57%) wasted 2–3 turns attempting bash curl or wget to fetch the XKCD JSON, which failed silently, before falling back to web_fetch or the pre-fetched file:
● Read latest comic info and day of year (shell)
✗ Fetch comic 705 (shell) ← curl failed
✗ Fetch comic 705 via Python (shell) ← python fetch failed
✗ Try wget (shell) ← wget failed
● Check available xkcd files (shell) ← fallback
● create_discussion (MCP: safeoutputs)
3 of 7 runs (43%) used web_fetch directly and completed in 3 turns:
● Read latest comic and day of year (shell)
● create_discussion (MCP: safeoutputs)
Per-turn token usage confirms the cost difference:
Per-run breakdown
The bash tool is configured with curl, wget (via bash shell), and python3, all of which the agent sometimes reaches for instead of web_fetch. Because the xkcd.com endpoint appears to be accessible only through the web_fetch proxy (not direct curl from the runner), each attempt fails and burns a full turn.
Ranked Recommendations
1. Mandate web_fetch for all XKCD API calls — estimated ~15 AIC savings/run
Action: Replace the current Step 4 instruction:
4. Fetch the chosen comic: use `web_fetch` on `(xkcd.com/redacted)
with an explicit prohibition:
4. Fetch the chosen comic using **`web_fetch` only** — never `bash`, `curl`, `wget`, or Python —
on `(xkcd.com/redacted) and read the JSON fields: `num`, `title`, `img`, `alt`.
Also update Step 2 to use the pre-fetched file instead of fetching again:
2. Read `/tmp/gh-aw/agent/xkcd/latest.json` (already fetched by the pre-step).
Check if `title` or `alt` touches on code, math, ML, AI, or tech culture — if yes, use it directly.
Do NOT re-fetch the latest comic via web_fetch or bash.
Evidence: 4/7 runs had curl/wget failures adding 2–4 extra turns, wasting 17–37 AIC each. Affected runs average 52 AIC vs 24 AIC for clean runs. Fixing this would align all runs with the low-AIC baseline. Savings = (0.57 × (52 − 24)) ≈ 16 AIC/run (conservative: 15).
References: §30532789260 · §30153237685 · §30197087279
2. Downgrade model from Sonnet to Haiku — estimated ~10 AIC savings/run
Action: Add model: claude-haiku-4.5 to daily-xkcd.md frontmatter.
The task is a textbook small-model fit:
- Read a pre-fetched JSON file (trivial)
- Fetch one JSON endpoint via
web_fetch (trivial)
- Classify title/alt text against ~8 topic keywords (simple classification)
- Fill a 5-line markdown template (template formatting)
No cross-referencing of heterogeneous sources, no strategic synthesis. The "Why it resonates" sentence is punchy by design — a 1-sentence creative output well within Haiku's capability.
Haiku costs ~3× less per token than Sonnet. Current token-only AIC averages ~13/run. Haiku would reduce this to ~4.5/run. Faster inference also shortens run duration by an estimated 1–2 minutes, saving ~2–4 action-minutes AIC.
Estimated savings: 8.5 (tokens) + ~2.5 (action minutes) ≈ 10 AIC/run.
3. Reduce relevance retry limit from 3 to 2 — estimated ~3 AIC savings/run
Action: Change the instruction in Step 6:
6. If the chosen comic feels irrelevant, pick the next number from the list and try again (max 2 attempts).
The curated list is pre-vetted for developer/AI relevance. A 3rd retry is rarely necessary and adds one full web_fetch + reasoning turn. With Recommendation 1 in place, each retry turn costs ~1–2 AIC (Haiku) instead of ~3–4 AIC (Sonnet).
Evidence: Run 30532789260 performed 3 failed fetches before completing. Capping at 2 eliminates the worst-case third attempt.
Tool Usage Summary
| Tool |
Configured |
Used in successful path |
Recommendation |
web_fetch |
✅ |
✅ (efficient runs) |
Keep — required |
bash (curl) |
✅ |
✗ Fails for xkcd.com |
Keep for pre-step; add prompt warning |
bash (jq, date, echo) |
✅ |
✅ (date/day-of-year) |
Keep |
bash (expr) |
✅ |
Unused |
Consider removing |
bash (wget) |
✅ |
✗ Fails for xkcd.com |
Consider removing |
Caveats
- Token/AIC breakdown is approximate; action-minutes costs are inferred from total vs token-only AIC deltas.
- Model downgrade savings assume Haiku output quality is sufficient for the "Why it resonates" sentence. Recommend monitoring first 5 runs after change.
- 7 runs is a small sample; the 3/7 vs 4/7 curl-fail split may shift.
Generated by Agentic Workflow AIC Usage Optimizer · 699.4 AIC · ⊞ 21.6K · ◷
Target Workflow
Daily XKCD Comic (
daily-xkcd.md) — selected as highest-AIC eligible workflow (all top-5 have been optimized within 14 days; XKCD was optimized 9 days ago and has the oldest optimization date among candidates with meaningful AIC).Analysis Period
2026-07-24 → 2026-07-30 · 7 runs · All conclusions:
success· Model:claude-sonnet-4.6Spend Profile
Root Cause: bash/curl Retries Drive 2.5× AIC Variance
Observability flagged execution drift: runs vary from 0 to 7 turns. The agent-stdio logs reveal exactly why:
4 of 7 runs (57%) wasted 2–3 turns attempting
bash curlorwgetto fetch the XKCD JSON, which failed silently, before falling back toweb_fetchor the pre-fetched file:3 of 7 runs (43%) used
web_fetchdirectly and completed in 3 turns:Per-turn token usage confirms the cost difference:
Per-run breakdown
The
bashtool is configured withcurl,wget(viabashshell), andpython3, all of which the agent sometimes reaches for instead ofweb_fetch. Because the xkcd.com endpoint appears to be accessible only through theweb_fetchproxy (not direct curl from the runner), each attempt fails and burns a full turn.Ranked Recommendations
1. Mandate
web_fetchfor all XKCD API calls — estimated ~15 AIC savings/runAction: Replace the current Step 4 instruction:
with an explicit prohibition:
Also update Step 2 to use the pre-fetched file instead of fetching again:
Evidence: 4/7 runs had curl/wget failures adding 2–4 extra turns, wasting 17–37 AIC each. Affected runs average 52 AIC vs 24 AIC for clean runs. Fixing this would align all runs with the low-AIC baseline. Savings = (0.57 × (52 − 24)) ≈ 16 AIC/run (conservative: 15).
References: §30532789260 · §30153237685 · §30197087279
2. Downgrade model from Sonnet to Haiku — estimated ~10 AIC savings/run
Action: Add
model: claude-haiku-4.5todaily-xkcd.mdfrontmatter.The task is a textbook small-model fit:
web_fetch(trivial)No cross-referencing of heterogeneous sources, no strategic synthesis. The "Why it resonates" sentence is punchy by design — a 1-sentence creative output well within Haiku's capability.
Haiku costs ~3× less per token than Sonnet. Current token-only AIC averages ~13/run. Haiku would reduce this to ~4.5/run. Faster inference also shortens run duration by an estimated 1–2 minutes, saving ~2–4 action-minutes AIC.
Estimated savings: 8.5 (tokens) + ~2.5 (action minutes) ≈ 10 AIC/run.
3. Reduce relevance retry limit from 3 to 2 — estimated ~3 AIC savings/run
Action: Change the instruction in Step 6:
The curated list is pre-vetted for developer/AI relevance. A 3rd retry is rarely necessary and adds one full
web_fetch+ reasoning turn. With Recommendation 1 in place, each retry turn costs ~1–2 AIC (Haiku) instead of ~3–4 AIC (Sonnet).Evidence: Run 30532789260 performed 3 failed fetches before completing. Capping at 2 eliminates the worst-case third attempt.
Tool Usage Summary
web_fetchbash(curl)bash(jq, date, echo)bash(expr)bash(wget)Caveats