Status: done

# 04 — H2: Tracker-authoritative token and work-unit accounting

## What to build

Stop trusting node-reported usage for billing. The tracker already proxies responses — use tracker-observed response data and request limits to cap billable tokens, and compute work units from the **route it constructed**, not node declarations.

**Code refs:**

- `packages/tracker/meshnet_tracker/server.py` — `node_work` from route construction (~1776–1782, ~1781–1782)
- `packages/tracker/meshnet_tracker/server.py` — streaming token/chunk billing (~1890–1921)
- `packages/tracker/meshnet_tracker/server.py` — non-streaming `_usage_total_tokens` (~1938–1943)
- `packages/tracker/meshnet_tracker/billing.py` — `charge_request` node_work split (~104–151)

Accounting fraud = inflating tokens or shard span. Per ADR-0018 §5.

## Test-first

1. Red: mock upstream returns inflated `usage.total_tokens` in body but tracker bills that value — test expects the tracker to cap billable tokens from observed stream chunks or request bounds.
2. Red: node registers false `shard_end`; billing uses tracker route span, not registration field alone.
3. Green: authoritative counters; ignore node-reported work units on charge path.

## Acceptance criteria

- [ ] Streaming token count uses tracker-observed chunks/tokens; upstream `usage.total_tokens` can only lower or match that observed count, never inflate it
- [ ] Non-streaming token count caps upstream `usage.total_tokens` by tracker-known request bounds (`max_tokens`, and prompt estimate if available); exact tokenizer-backed counts are deferred unless already available locally
- [ ] Work units = tracker-computed layer span per hop at route build time (~1781–1782)
- [ ] Nodes cannot increase payout by lying about shard range mid-request
- [ ] Integration test: malicious node metadata does not inflate `charge_request` shares

## ADR links

- [ADR-0018](../../docs/adr/0018-fraud-detection-verification-and-reputation.md) §5

## Blocked by

- `02-a2-unified-auth-boundary.md`