The reflex when an agent bill climbs is to downgrade the model - a flat, one-time per-token discount that costs quality. A controlled study (The Harness Effect, arXiv 2607.06906) held the model fixed and changed only the orchestration layer, cutting tokens/task 38% and cost 41%. Audit and fix the harness - cache-shape, compaction, offload, suspend-don't-poll, failure governance - before you reach for a cheaper model.
The Harness Effect: Fix Your Orchestration Before You Reach for a Cheaper Model
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