carbonwatcher 0.2.0

Track energy, carbon, and cost of ML experiments and LLM API calls — CLI and Python module with automatic token counting.

Carbon Trace

Track the energy, carbon, and cost of ML training runs and LLM API calls — automatically, with no changes to your existing code.

pip install carbonwatcher

Why

Every GPU training job and every LLM API call burns electricity. The carbon footprint depends on where that electricity comes from. A model trained in Ireland emits 8× less CO₂ than the same job run in India. Most teams have no idea what their AI compute actually costs the planet.

Carbon Trace makes it automatic: wrap your training loop or your API client, and it logs energy, carbon, and cost to a ledger you can query and share.

---

Quick start

Wrap a training script (no code changes)

carbonwatcher run python train.py
carbonwatcher run --region eu-west-1 --log-dir ./logs -- python train.py

Context manager

from carbon_trace import CarbonTracker

with CarbonTracker(experiment_name="resnet50", model_name="ResNet50") as ct:
    train(...)

# prints summary automatically

Epoch-based API (recommended for long runs)

from carbon_trace import CarbonTracker

tracker = CarbonTracker(epochs=100, monitor_epochs=2, experiment_name="bert-ft")
for epoch in range(100):
    tracker.epoch_start()
    train_one_epoch(...)
    tracker.epoch_end()   # prints per-epoch stats + prediction after epoch 2
tracker.stop()

After monitor_epochs epochs it extrapolates and prints:

  [Predicted for 100 epochs]
    Time:    01:24:00
    Energy:  840.0000 Wh
    Carbon:  168.0000 gCO2e

Decorator

from carbon_trace import CarbonTracker

@CarbonTracker.track(experiment="gpt2-finetune", model="GPT-2")
def train():
    ...

---

LLM token tracking

Track carbon and cost of LLM API calls — token counts come from the API response, no manual counting needed.

Anthropic / Claude

from carbon_trace.llm.anthropic_wrapper import TrackedAnthropic

client = TrackedAnthropic()   # drop-in for anthropic.Anthropic()

response = client.messages.create(
    model="claude-sonnet-4-6",
    max_tokens=1024,
    messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "Explain transformers."}],
)
# carbon + cost logged automatically

OpenAI

from carbon_trace.llm.openai_wrapper import TrackedOpenAI

client = TrackedOpenAI()   # drop-in for openai.OpenAI()

response = client.chat.completions.create(
    model="gpt-4o",
    messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "Hello"}],
)

Ollama (local)

from carbon_trace.llm.ollama_wrapper import TrackedOllama

client = TrackedOllama()   # drop-in for ollama.Client()
response = client.chat(model="llama3.2", messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "Hi"}])

HuggingFace (local)

from carbon_trace.llm.huggingface_wrapper import TrackedHuggingFace

model = TrackedHuggingFace("gpt2")
output = model.generate("Once upon a time")

llama.cpp (local)

from carbon_trace.llm.llamacpp_wrapper import TrackedLlamaCpp

llm = TrackedLlamaCpp("models/llama-3.2-3b.gguf")
response = llm.chat([{"role": "user", "content": "Hello"}])

---

CLI reference

carbonwatcher --help

Command	Description
run	Wrap any script — carbonwatcher run python train.py
runs	List all recorded training runs
compare	Rank runs by carbon efficiency
estimate	Quick carbon estimate for energy + region
regions	Compare carbon intensity across all regions
config	Set your region, name, and organization
dashboard	Monthly emissions with ASCII bar charts
goals set	Set monthly/yearly carbon targets
goals progress	Show progress toward your targets
team	Compare carbon across team members
llm-runs	List all LLM API calls
llm-estimate	Estimate carbon for one LLM call
llm-compare	Rank all known models by carbon footprint
llm-models	List all supported models
logs	Parse structured log files

Config

# Set your location and identity once
carbonwatcher config --region India --user-name Alice --organization Acme

# Show current config
carbonwatcher config --show

Dashboard

carbonwatcher dashboard
carbonwatcher dashboard --export-json report.json
carbonwatcher dashboard --export-csv report.csv

Goals

# Set a monthly carbon budget of 500 gCO2e and $5 cost cap
carbonwatcher goals set --monthly 500 --cost-monthly 5.0

# Set a yearly budget
carbonwatcher goals set --yearly 5000

# Check progress
carbonwatcher goals progress

Team reports

# Compare team members (each person has their own ledger)
carbonwatcher team alice_ledger.json bob_ledger.json carol_ledger.json

# Filter by month
carbonwatcher team *.json --month 2026-05

# Include LLM usage
carbonwatcher team alice_ledger.json --llm-ledger alice_llm_ledger.json

---

Location-aware carbon

Carbon Trace automatically detects your location and uses the local grid's carbon intensity.

Region	Intensity
Norway	28 gCO2/kWh
France	58 gCO2/kWh
Ireland (EU West)	88 gCO2/kWh
California	220 gCO2/kWh
USA average	386 gCO2/kWh
India	708 gCO2/kWh
Australia	790 gCO2/kWh

For LLM API calls, the server's grid is used, not yours:

• Anthropic (Claude): ~200 gCO2/kWh (AWS + GCP blended)
• OpenAI: ~200 gCO2/kWh
• Mistral AI: 58 gCO2/kWh (French grid)

---

Python module API

from carbon_trace import CarbonTracker
from carbon_trace.llm.tracker import LLMTracker
from carbon_trace.dashboard.monthly import combined_monthly, print_monthly_dashboard
from carbon_trace.dashboard.goals import set_goal, print_goals_progress
from carbon_trace.team.report import print_team_report
from carbon_trace.parser import parse_all_logs, aggregate_logs

# Monthly dashboard data
data = combined_monthly("ledger.json", "llm_ledger.json")

# Team stats
print_team_report(["alice.json", "bob.json"], month="2026-05")

# Parse log files
logs = parse_all_logs("./logs", experiment="bert-ft")
agg  = aggregate_logs(logs)

---

Installation

# Core (training tracking + CLI)
pip install carbonwatcher

# With Claude/Anthropic support
pip install "carbonwatcher[anthropic]"

# With OpenAI support
pip install "carbonwatcher[openai]"

# With local model support (Ollama + HuggingFace + llama.cpp)
pip install "carbonwatcher[ollama,huggingface,llamacpp]"

# Everything
pip install "carbonwatcher[all]"

Requirements

• Python 3.9+
• macOS, Linux (Windows: CPU power estimated via TDP, no RAPL)

Hardware power measurement

Platform	Method
Intel CPU (Linux)	RAPL — direct energy counter, exact
Apple Silicon (macOS)	powermetrics — accurate but needs sudo for real-time; falls back to TDP estimate
NVIDIA GPU	NVML — direct power sensor
Other	TDP-based estimate (conservative)

---

Output example

Run:        a3f2c1b8
Experiment: bert-finetune  |  Model: bert-base-uncased
CPU:        Apple M1  [tdp_estimate]
GPU:        None detected
Duration:   142.3s
Energy:     3.1200 Wh  (CPU: 2.8400  GPU: 0.0000  DRAM: 0.0560)  PUE×1.10
Carbon:     2.209 gCO2e  (0.00000221 kg)
Grid:       India @ 708.0 gCO2/kWh  [static_table]
Cost:       $0.0312 USD
Equiv:      0.0002 phone charges  |  0.000014 km driven

---

License

MIT