A few months ago I opened my AI bill and did the dumb double-take every solo dev knows.
Not because I had a huge team.
Because the cost was invisible while I was building.
That was the whole problem.
I could feel the products moving, but I could not feel what each conversation, prompt, or workflow was costing me in real time.
So I built TokenBar.
It is a tiny macOS menu bar app that makes LLM spend visible while you work. Not a dashboard you check later. Not a spreadsheet you avoid. Just constant cost awareness right where the work happens.
The lesson for me was simple:
if a number matters, put it where the decision happens.
That same rule is why I care about Monk Mode too, but for a different problem.
TokenBar is about cost visibility.
Monk Mode is about distraction removal.
Different pain. Different product. Same idea: remove the thing you keep ignoring.
I think a lot of solo founders build the wrong thing first. We build the fancy layer, not the painful layer.
The painful layer is usually what people will pay for.
If your AI spend feels fuzzy, that is the bill talking.
If your focus keeps slipping, that is the tab explosion talking.
Build for the pain that keeps repeating.
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