Credits & usage

Open Credits & usage from the user menu or Settings. Use Overview for your balance and grants, Usage for reporting, Buy credits for prepaid packs, and Settings for spending controls and alerts.

Credits are managed at the account level. The Account Owner and Account Administrators can enable or disable credits, buy credit packs, and change auto-refill settings.

What credits are

GovTribe credits are the account balance used for GovTribe AI, GovTribe MCP, automations, and other metered work. They are separate from your subscription plan: turning credits on does not upgrade, downgrade, or otherwise change the plan shown on Billing.

Credits can be used in two ways:

Free trials include 2,000 credits. Trial accounts can use included trial credits, but they need a paid subscription before they can buy more credits.

GovTribe tracks usage in smaller internal units and displays the result as credits. Customer-facing pages show balances, thresholds, and usage totals in credits.

Astra conversations require credit billing, including on eligible trials. Accounts still using legacy unlimited AI cannot select Astra. Turning on metered AI for a former legacy account makes Astra eligible when the account has active GovTribe AI access.

Astra has its own rates in the Credit Consumption Table for Standard and Fast processing. Input, cached input, cache-write input, and output are priced separately. Requests with more than 272,000 input tokens use the long-context rate for the whole request; exactly 272,000 uses the standard-context rate. Research that continues across several responses contributes each response's actual usage once. Stopping research preserves charges for known usage already incurred.

For the current schedule of how each metered action consumes credits, see the Credit Consumption Table.

Answer common AI credit questions

Use this section when GovTribe AI, GovTribe MCP, or another credit-powered workflow says credits are unavailable, no credits are enabled, or a user is worried about unexpected AI charges.

If the Credits & usage page does not answer the issue, contact Customer Success with the account name, the user email affected, the credit balance shown, the feature that failed, and the exact message GovTribe displayed. If you need larger credit packaging, Pay-As-You-Go enablement, or a sales-led usage discussion, contact Sales.

What credits are used for

Credits currently power GovTribe AI, GovTribe MCP, and GovTribe AI automations.

The Usage page groups these meter events by tool or by user, so a single customer workflow can appear as more than one usage row. For example, an AI conversation can record separate input, cached input, and output usage.

How credits control GovTribe AI

GovTribe uses the account's credit setting and subscription plan together to decide how a new main GovTribe AI turn can run.

The setting applies at the start of future AI provider work. Enabling credits does not retroactively charge completed turns, and disabling credits does not refund or change usage that has already occurred. A future turn that starts after the setting changes uses the new account policy.

Background memory work includes turn summaries, dreams, and maintenance. It also requires the user's memory setting to remain enabled; opting out stops future Memory Summary and background memory provider work.

Docs Ask is a separately exempt product surface. It is not charged as main GovTribe AI usage and does not count against a plan-included monthly AI limit.

Interrupted analysis and credits

GovTribe checks billing once, when a turn starts. After a turn has started, running out of credits or a billing-system problem does not interrupt it: tool calls, follow-up model requests, and analysis-environment setup continue, and its usage is recorded. Charges still respect the available funding and active spending controls described below. The next turn can be blocked until credits or allowance are available again.

Some GovTribe AI tasks create a temporary analysis environment to work with files or run code. If setup is interrupted, GovTribe checks the existing creation attempt before continuing. Recovering the same confirmed environment does not charge its creation twice.

Stopping or deleting a conversation cancels its continuation, but does not cancel charges for work already performed, including a confirmed environment creation. That usage may appear after recovery finishes checking the interrupted work. Recovery keeps the credit authorization and pricing recorded when the environment creation began; it does not turn previously nonchargeable creation into a charge.

For recovery messages and next steps, see Manage conversations.

Enable or disable credits

When credits are off, an Account Owner or Administrator can choose Turn on credits and review the confirmation. Other members can ask an administrator to enable them from the page.

To disable credits, open Settings and choose Turn off credits. On GovTribe and GovTribe Pro, this stops future credit-powered AI and MCP work. Eligible legacy plans can return to their included AI behavior. Credits keep their original expiration dates while they are off; disabling credits does not refund previous usage or renew an expiring grant.

Your credits

Overview shows your balance, current-month usage, and whether auto-refill and pay-as-you-go are on. Your credits lists the source, remaining amount, and expiration of your grants. Credits that expire soonest are used first.

For self-service plans, annual grants arrive when the paid plan starts and at renewal. Invoice-billed Enterprise accounts can receive their agreed allowance for a service period before the invoice is paid. Buying a newly covered seat adds its full annual allowance for the rest of the current billing year, even though the money charged for the seat is prorated. Reassigning a seat or buying back capacity already credited that year does not issue the same credits again.

Upgrading can replace the remaining included balance with the new plan's allowance. It does not remove separately purchased or complimentary credits. Removing seats keeps remaining included credits until their original expiration. Review included-credit changes and the purchase preview before confirming.

Select Show expired to see expired grants. They remain listed for 12 months after expiration. Account managers can use See all credit activity or View purchases to open History.

Monetary account credits shown on Billing reduce future invoices. They are separate from the AI credits shown here.

Buy credits and auto-refill

Credit packs

Open Buy credits to compare prepaid packs. The current standard packs are:

Pay-as-you-go is $0.09 per credit. The page shows available account discounts and the amount to review before purchasing. Use the Credit Cost Estimator to compare your expected usage with pack sizes.

An Account Owner or Administrator on an eligible paid account can select a pack, review the purchase, and complete payment. Credits must be enabled and the account must be allowed to buy credits. Trial accounts need a paid plan first. Complete any payment authentication and wait for the purchase to finish before retrying. Check the balance and History afterward.

Auto-refill

Open Settings, then choose Edit beside Auto-refill. Enable it, choose Refill when balance falls below and Credit pack to purchase, then save. The minimum refill threshold is 1,000 credits.

GovTribe attempts to buy the selected pack when the processed prepaid balance falls below the threshold. Auto-refill purchases are separate charges and are not limited by the pay-as-you-go cap. Billing contacts receive refill updates, including payment problems. If the selected pack becomes unavailable, choose a current pack.

Turning auto-refill off stops automatic pack purchases. Review the pay-as-you-go setting separately to see whether work can continue after prepaid credits run out.

Pay-as-you-go

Open Settings, then choose Edit beside Pay-as-you-go. Eligible paid accounts with a supported saved card can enable usage billing after prepaid credits run out. A bank-funded payment method does not support pay-as-you-go. Review the rate and payment information, complete any setup, and check the saved status. Turning credits on alone does not mean pay-as-you-go is enabled.

Pay-as-you-go usage is billed monthly or when the account's payment collection threshold is reached. That collection threshold determines when a payment is collected; it does not limit spending. A payment collected during the month does not reset a monthly spending cap.

Monthly spending controls

The Account Owner and Administrators can manage these controls from Settings, under Caps and limits, or from Billing's Spending controls. Both use calendar months and reset at midnight UTC on the first of the month, independently of your subscription renewal date.

Set a pay-as-you-go cap

Choose Edit beside Pay-as-you-go cap, select Cap at, enter a monthly dollar amount, and choose Save changes. Choose No cap to remove it. The form shows pay-as-you-go spending so far and any rounding applied to your entry.

When the remaining cap cannot cover more usage, new credit-powered work pauses once prepaid credits are exhausted. Rounding can leave a small amount of the cap unused. To continue sooner, buy prepaid credits, raise or remove the cap, or wait for the next calendar month. A per-person limit can still prevent a person from continuing even when the account has credits.

Set limits by person

Expand Credit limits by person. Review Used in the current month, enter each person's Monthly limit in credits, and choose Save limits. An empty field means No limit. Cancel discards unsaved edits. The form reports rounding and whether a saved limit pauses the person.

Everyone still uses the same account balance. A 2,000-credit limit does not set aside 2,000 credits or prevent another person from using the shared balance. When the person's charged usage reaches the limit, new credit-powered work for them pauses. An administrator can raise or clear the limit; otherwise it resets next month. Buying a pack alone does not reset the person's usage.

Saved settings and work already running

Saved, takes effect soon means the change has been saved but is not active yet. Recheck for Active before relying on it. Failed to apply means activation needs attention; refresh and contact Customer Success if it remains unresolved. Do not treat a saved value as proof that enforcement has started.

Limits are checked before new work starts. Work already running can finish, but when its usage is recorded, GovTribe charges only what fits within the active per-person limit and pay-as-you-go cap. Any excess is not charged. Lowering a limit below usage already charged does not refund that earlier usage.

Usage

Open the Usage tab for account credit activity. Choose This month, Last month, Last 90 days, or a date range. The date picker also offers longer presets and custom start and end dates.

Credit totals show charged usage; amounts waived because of a spending limit are not added to those totals. The report separates GovTribe AI and GovTribe MCP and charts Credits used per day, split between Prepaid and Pay-as-you-go. Use View GovTribe AI activity to review the separate report of conversations, automations, outputs, and Skills; use Manage MCP access for connected clients and keys.

Under Breakdown, switch between By person and By tool. Search the displayed people or tool names. Expand a tool group to see its individual tools and use Show all where offered. The table shows Times used, Credits, and the share of usage. A single workflow can generate several billing events, so these counts are not necessarily one click or one AI answer.

Choose Export as CSV to request an emailed file of credit events for the selected dates. If the selected range exceeds the export limit shown by the page, choose a shorter range. The export covers credit events in the requested period; searching the on-screen breakdown does not filter the export.

For a single AI conversation, use Credit usage in its information panel. Image creation, memory work, searches, and other metered steps can all contribute to a workflow's credit total. The Credit Consumption Table lists the current rates.

Alerts and account tiers

In Settings, choose Edit beside Email alerts to add monthly pay-as-you-go thresholds in US dollars. Billing contacts receive an email when usage reaches each threshold. Remove thresholds and save to stop those alerts. Alerts notify you; they do not pause usage or replace a spending cap.

Use Manage on Billing to change recipients. Billing emails explains the primary address, additional recipients, and payment-provider messages.

Expand Account Tier to see the current request limit and pay-as-you-go billing threshold. Tiers can increase with lifetime spend. The billing threshold is a payment collection trigger, separate from your optional monthly cap.

Related articles

• Choose the right GovTribe plan: Compare plans, seats, and annual credit allowances.
• Billing: Manage payment information, billing recipients, and invoices.
• History: Review account changes, credit grants, purchases, and billing effects.
• GovTribe AI: Use conversations, projects, skills, daily briefings, and automations.
• GovTribe AI memories: Review, correct, add, and forget reusable memories.
• GovTribe MCP: Connect GovTribe to supported AI tools.