Credits and access
Sign in with skills login as described in Installation before these hosted commands. The server catalog determines which skills are available.
skills.md exposes user-visible pricing before paid work starts. Free skills stay free; premium skills quote a fixed or input-based credit amount.
Credits and access model
| Type | Behavior |
|---|---|
| Free local skills | No balance check and no paid run receipt. |
| Premium fixed-price skills | One clear price per run. |
| Premium variable skills | Price depends on user-visible units such as articles, pages, or generated assets. |
| Subscriptions | Existing subscribers can manage billing in the customer portal. New checkout availability is shown in billing. |
skills quote blog-article --topic "AI billing dashboards"skills quote blog-article --topic "SOC 2 for startups" --articles 12User-facing quote
A quote should include:
- Skill name.
- Price in credits.
- Input units that affected the price.
- Approval requirement.
- Expiration or idempotency key when available.
Balance and receipt flow
Quote
The CLI, MCP, or web app asks the API for a public quote.
Approve
The user approves the credit amount for paid work.
Reserve
The server holds the approved credits before the run enters the queue and captures that amount on successful completion.
Release on failure
If a run fails or is cancelled before settlement, the server releases its reserved credits. Their original expiry still applies; credits released after expiry are recorded as expired. This releases a credit hold rather than issuing a cash refund.
Write receipt
The run exports include receipt metadata alongside the manifest.
Initial paid catalog
The initial reviewed hosted skill is blog-article, priced at 25 credits per article. Quote the selected input before submitting it. Other catalog entries remain unavailable for hosted execution until reviewed and enabled; their presence is not permission to spend credits on them.
Use skills credits packs --json to discover pack IDs and credit counts, then skills credits buy <pack-id> --json to create an account-bound checkout. Review the payment amount in the external checkout before confirming. No subscription is required to buy credits or run available hosted skills. Customer private code publishing/execution and self-service teams are not available.
Purchased credit expiry
Unused purchased credits expire 365 days after successful payment. Each pack keeps its own expiry date; buying another pack does not extend existing credits. The purchase entry in billing usage records its expiry date. Credits with the nearest expiry are used first when a run reserves credits.
Released run credits keep their original expiry. Expired credits cannot fund a new run. This policy describes purchased packs; grants and subscription access are separate from those purchases.