Stacklet today launched Token Custodian, the control plane for governing AI token usage. It attributes every token consumed across teams, agents, and projects, and then governs spend with automated policies and workflows that act, not just block. Built for enterprise FinOps and policy-driven workflows, it governs spend in real time, right inside the workflows teams already use.

Enterprises are struggling to prove the value of their AI spend. In the Tokenomics Foundation’s State of Tokenomics 2026 survey, 43% named proving value their biggest challenge, five times more than those who named price. Seeing the spend is table stakes. The value comes from acting on it: putting the right model on the right job, cutting waste, and holding budgets.

“Organizations are moving quickly to scale AI, but the ability to govern that investment and connect it to business value is still catching up,” said Kevin Emamy, VP of Development for the Tokenomics Foundation. “As a Tokenomics Foundation member, Stacklet brings expertise in cloud governance to this broader effort to help enterprises manage AI economics and turn AI investment into measurable business outcomes.”

Token Custodian is the only control plane that both attributes every token and governs it with action, built for platform and FinOps teams. It gives them one control plane to turn that spend into value, attributing every token and governing it with action:

Account for Every Token with Full Attribution. Trace every token and agent run to the team, project, app, and cost center behind it, then enforce policy on it. One view across multiple providers, so spend answers to value.
Amplify AI Value with Tailored, Action-Driven Policy. Set budgets and usage policy by team, project, or environment. When a team nears its limit, Token Custodian acts instead of blocking, automatically shifting to a lower-cost model or routing an approval, so work keeps moving and spend stays in check.
Trust Governance Proven Across Enterprise Cloud. Built by the team behind Cloud Custodian, the policy engine enterprises have trusted for over ten years. The same policy-driven automation you trust for cloud, now acting on AI tokens in real time.

“Applying the same cost limit to AI agents that deliver significant business value and those that consume tokens without comparable returns can prevent organizations from realizing the full potential of agentic AI,” said Torsten Volk, Principal Analyst, Application Modernization at Omdia. “Token Custodian enables FinOps teams to define and enforce more granular controls for token usage, helping enterprises direct spend toward workloads where it makes business sense and manage costs where it doesn’t. This closes the critical gap between simply reporting on AI spend and managing it based on business impact and priorities.”

“Governing our AI spend so it drives value, not waste, is exactly what we’re after, and most tools either stop at reporting or weren’t built for FinOps and governance workflows. Token Custodian does both, and it fits right into the tools our teams already use, like Claude Code and Slack. We’re excited to try it,” said Lindbergh Matillano, Director of Cloud & AI Optimization at Avalara.

“The instinct with AI spend is to cut or cap it, but that just slows your teams down,” said Travis Stanfield, CEO of Stacklet. “The real win is governing it so spend flows to the work that pays off, and that’s what we built Token Custodian to do, on the same engine enterprises have trusted to govern their cloud for years.”

Token Custodian is now available in early preview with general availability planned for Q4 2026. To learn more, join us on Tuesday, October 27 from 12-1:30 pm EDT for The Token Governance Summit, where you will hear from builders and practitioners on governing AI token usage and see a demo of Stacklet Token Custodian. To join the Summit, sign up here or to request a personalized demo, visit stacklet.ai/token-custodian.

Supporting Resources

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About Stacklet

Stacklet is the control plane for autonomous cloud and AI infrastructure, built by the creators of CNCF’s Cloud Custodian. Trusted by enterprises managing more than $10 billion in cloud and AI spend, Stacklet autonomously discovers, fixes, and prevents issues across operations, cost, and security, delivering up to 50% reduction in costs and 80% less time spent on governance. For more information, visit stacklet.ai.