Halyard – open AI work ledger for developers (time, tokens, cost, invoices) (github.com)

Halyard has emerged as a groundbreaking open-source tool designed to enhance accountability and transparency in AI-assisted work for developers. By acting as a local ledger, Halyard captures crucial metadata from AI sessions—including time, tokens, project details, and costs—right where the work occurs, without needing any cloud services or user accounts. This functionality is particularly significant for individual developers and freelancers, who often struggle to track the financial and performance aspects of their AI usage. With Halyard, users can maintain a plain-text log on their machines, which facilitates comprehensive project attribution, precise cost breakdowns, and invoice evidence that respects privacy by excluding prompts or code. The tool integrates seamlessly with popular development environments like Claude Code, Cursor, and Gemini CLI, using lightweight hooks to automatically log session data. Halyard's architecture supports both offline analytics and real-time monitoring through a local dashboard, ensuring users can easily access insights about their AI expenditures and productivity. This structured approach not only aids in understanding what was accomplished in AI engagements but also informs budget allocations for future projects. Overall, Halyard promises to empower developers and small AI teams by providing clarity and control over their AI initiatives, marking a significant stride in the ongoing evolution of AI/ML project management.