Direct answer
For the active Zed Agent thread, read the token indicator beside the profile selector in the Agent Panel message editor. For Zed-hosted model spend, open dashboard.zed.dev and use the Billing page. If you brought your own API key, check that provider's usage and invoices instead. whoburnedmore does not import Zed usage, so it cannot replace any of those three native records.
Usage map
First identify who supplied the model
1. Active thread
Read the token display near the Agent Panel profile selector. It helps diagnose context pressure and when to compact or start fresh.
2. Model access
Confirm whether the selected model is Zed-hosted or configured in Settings → AI → LLM Providers with your own key or gateway.
3. Billing authority
Use Zed Billing for hosted models. Use the API provider or gateway console for BYOK. External agents may own an entirely separate plan.
Which Zed number answers your question?
Start with the question, then open its authoritative surface. This prevents a thread's context gauge from being presented as a monthly charge or an included plan credit from being mistaken for free tokens.
A five-minute Zed usage audit
- 1
Capture the active thread before changing it
Open the Agent Panel and record the selected agent, model, profile, and token indicator together. Token display availability can vary for external agent integrations, so a missing indicator does not prove zero usage.
- 2
Separate thread context from cumulative usage
Treat the indicator as a live context signal. If the thread is crowded, inspect Zed's compaction entry, run /compact, or create a new thread from a summary. Compaction can reduce future context without rewriting past billing.
- 3
Verify the model access path
Open Settings → AI → LLM Providers. A Zed-hosted model belongs on Zed's Billing path. A model authenticated with your API key belongs on the provider or gateway path. For an external agent, inspect that agent's own configuration.
- 4
Reconcile hosted usage in Zed Billing
At dashboard.zed.dev, review current hosted-model usage, the applicable included credit, the billing-cycle boundary, and the configured spend limit. Open invoice history when you need settled charges rather than a live usage view.
- 5
Reconcile BYOK at the provider
Filter the provider's usage by project, API key, model, and time window when those dimensions are available. Include cache reads, cache writes, input, and output because providers may price those token classes differently.
Four concepts that look similar but are not
- Thread context tokens
- The material the selected model can consider in the active Agent thread, including conversation and attached context. It grows during work and may shrink after compaction; it is not an invoice counter.
- Zed-hosted usage
- Token usage for models supplied through Zed's hosted path. Zed meters it and exposes the account record in Billing, subject to current hosted-model rates and plan rules.
- Included credit
- A plan allowance applied within the relevant billing cycle. It offsets eligible hosted usage; it does not change the model's token count or make overage rules identical across plans.
- BYOK invoice
- Charges created when Zed sends requests using a key, gateway, credits, or top-up owned by you. The provider's meter and invoice are final, even though the work happened inside Zed.
Why the totals may not match
Scope, freshness, and limitations
This guide was reviewed against Zed's official Agent Panel, billing, plans, and API-access documentation on August 28, 2026. It intentionally omits copied plan prices, credit amounts, and model rates because those values can change; the live Zed dashboard and provider console are the authoritative records for an account.
whoburnedmore currently does not parse or import Zed Agent records. Its calculator can help model a token total you already know, and its supported-agent pages can help with other local sources, but neither produces a Zed usage history. Never treat an estimate as a Zed or provider invoice.
Sources
- Zed Agent Panel: token usage and compaction
Official instructions for finding the active thread token display and understanding compaction behavior.
- Zed plans, hosted usage, and spend limits
Official explanation of hosted-model metering, included credit, the Billing view, and plan-specific spend controls.
- Zed billing and invoice history
Official source for the account billing dashboard, invoice history, and the distinction between invoice timing and spend limits.
- Zed API access with your own provider key
Official setup guide for provider API keys and the provider-owned billing path used by BYOK requests.