Give an agent a budget and make it account for what it spent

You're going to work on this with a fixed budget, and you're going to account for it.

The job: [THE OUTCOME YOU WANT]
The budget: [PICK ONE AND STATE IT — e.g. 20 tool calls, 30 minutes, 10 web searches, 5 file edits]
What "done" looks like: [YOUR SUCCESS CRITERIA]

Before starting, tell me:
1. How you intend to spend the budget, roughly, by phase
2. What you'll do first that would tell you cheapest-and-earliest whether the approach is wrong
3. What you'll deliberately NOT spend it on
4. What a partial result looks like if you run out — because you might, and a half-finished thing that's honest about being half-finished is worth far more than a complete-looking thing that quietly stopped trying

Wait for me to approve the plan.

While working, at each phase boundary report in exactly three lines:
- SPENT: how much of the budget, and on what
- GOT: what that bought, concretely
- NEXT: what you're spending the next chunk on, and why that's the best use of it

If you reach 75% of the budget, stop and tell me what you'd do with a top-up versus what you'd deliver if I say no. Don't ask for more by default — make the case or finish.

At the end, give me:
- Total spent against budget
- The single most expensive step, and whether it was worth it
- What you'd do differently with the same budget knowing what you know now
- What I should budget if I ask you to do this again

Never silently exceed the budget. Running out is a legitimate outcome and I need to see it happen rather than have it hidden inside a confident summary.