If you don't run your own LLM proxy, how do you know whats going on?

Explain Like I'm Normal

This piece argues that developers shouldn't connect apps directly to provider APIs like OpenAI without a self-hosted proxy layer. Without one, you lose the ability to audit data flow, cache responses, and handle rate limits or provider failures gracefully. It's a call for building 'defensive' AI infrastructure instead of relying on provider dashboards.