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Understanding credits

What credits are spent on, what they are never spent on, how a reservation is settled or released, and exactly what happens when the balance runs out.

Updated

Credits pay for generation. Writing text, generating an image, a video or a voice, and running a render all reserve credits before they start and settle what they actually used afterwards.

Publishing never spends credits, on any plan, in any circumstance. A publishing action that tried to charge is refused outright as a defect rather than allowed through.

Running out stops new generation and nothing else. Drafts stay editable, and content already scheduled still publishes.

BEFORE YOU START

  • Active membership of the organisation. Reading your credits needs no particular role; credits are never a hidden currency.
  • A plan or a trial, which is where included credits come from.
  • Nothing else. Reading the ledger costs nothing.

STEPS

  1. Open Usage, or go to /app/usage for your organisation.
  2. Read "Credits available". That is the sum of everything granted and not yet spent, ignoring grants that have expired.
  3. Read the active grants. Each has a source and, where it applies, an expiry.
  4. Read the credit history: every grant, reservation, settlement, release and expiry, in order.
  5. Buy a top-up pack when you need one. Bought credits do not expire.
  6. Before a large run, use the preflight check so you know whether the batch fits.

WHAT YOU SHOULD SEE

A balance, the grants behind it, and a history where every movement has a reason. Nothing is a stored counter; the balance is the sum of the entries.

WHAT THIS WILL NOT DO

  • It will not charge for a generation that could not run. Where no provider is configured, the check happens before anything is reserved and nothing is charged: "No provider is active for this kind of render yet, so it could not run. No credits were charged."
  • It will not charge for a failed generation. A provider error releases the whole reservation.
  • It will not keep the difference. A generation that used less than it reserved has the remainder released back.
  • It will not expire credits you bought. Included monthly credits expire because they are an allowance that renews; bought credits are something you paid money for.
  • It will not refund a settled charge. Reversal of a completed charge exists in the ledger and has no control anywhere in the product.

WORTH KNOWING

Included credits are granted when a subscription becomes active and expire in a month. Reservations always draw from the grants that expire soonest, so an allowance is used before a top-up.

IF IT DOES NOT WORK

  • "You're getting through your AI credits." is the first warning, at a quarter remaining.
  • "You're nearly out of AI credits. Add more or upgrade to keep creating." is the second, at a tenth.
  • "You've used your included AI credits. Your existing scheduled content is safe." is the balance being zero, which is a fact rather than a judgement.
  • "There are not enough credits for this action." is the refusal on a specific action, with "Top up credits" as the way out.
  • "Insufficient credits: 40 available, 120 required." is the exact form you will see inside a bulk run. The item is not attempted, goes back to planned and stays resumable the moment credits arrive.
  • "This needs a provider that has not been set up yet. Paying for a plan will not switch it on." is the one to read carefully: topping up will not help.
  • "Buying credits isn't enabled in this environment yet. Nothing here can be purchased right now - your included credits are unaffected."

COMMON QUESTIONS

Will scheduling stop if I run out?

No. Scheduling and publishing never touch credits.

What does a reservation do to my balance?

It holds the estimate so two jobs cannot spend the same credits. When the job finishes, the actual amount is settled and the rest is released.

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