Billing and Usage
What this is
This page explains how billing, credits, and usage tracking work in your Hookshot™ workspace.
For current pricing and plan details, visit the Protege AI website.
When to use it
Use this page when you need to:
Understand how credits are consumed
Review your credit balance and usage history
Configure auto top-up
Purchase credit packs or change your plan
What you need first
Workspace owner or admin role (for billing management)
Access to Settings
Steps
1. Understand key concepts
Credits
Credits are the unit of consumption for Protege runs. Each time a Protege runs, the AI model usage (tokens in, tokens out, cached tokens) is converted into credits and deducted from your workspace balance.
Credit grants
Credits are added to your workspace through grants. Grant types include:
Included monthly
Renewed with each subscription billing cycle
Trial credit
Provided during a free trial period
Pack purchase
One-time credit pack purchase
Bonus
Added by Protege AI
Manual adjustment
Admin adjustments
Credit consumption order
When a Protege runs, credits are consumed from grants that expire soonest first. This ensures you use time-limited credits before they expire.
Usage ledger
Every billable event is recorded in the usage ledger with:
The source (dispatcher decision or Protege run)
The AI model used
Token counts (input, output, cached)
Credits charged
Each billable event is recorded exactly once — you will never be charged twice for the same run.
2. Manage credits
Credit balance
View your current credit balance in Settings → Plan. The balance reflects all grants minus all consumptions.
Credit packs
Credit packs are one-time purchases that add credits to your balance. Packs do not expire, though the credits they provide are consumed in the standard depletion order alongside other grants.
Visit the Protege AI website for current pack options.
Auto top-up
Auto top-up automatically purchases a credit pack when your balance falls below a threshold you set.
To configure auto top-up:
Go to Settings → Plan
Enable auto top-up
Choose the threshold (when to trigger a purchase)
Choose the pack size to purchase
Optionally set a monthly spending cap
Auto top-up behavior:
Triggers when available credits fall at or below the threshold
Respects a monthly spending cap
Has a 6-hour cooldown after a failed purchase attempt
Sends an email notification if a purchase fails
Auto top-up is not available for enterprise plans. Enterprise workspaces track overage separately and continue running even when the included credits are consumed.
Plan changes
Plan changes are handled through the billing portal. Go to Settings → Plan to access it.
Visit the Protege AI website for plan comparison and upgrade options.
3. Understand what happens when credits run out
Self-serve (Starter, Growth)
New Protege runs are blocked. Existing runs in progress will finish. A credit pack purchase or plan upgrade restores access.
Enterprise
Runs continue. Overage is tracked separately and invoiced according to your enterprise agreement.
When credits run out on a self-serve plan, a reversal (debt) grant is created for each run that cannot be covered. Future credit pack purchases offset this debt before adding new available credits.
4. Review usage
Settings → Usage shows:
Credit consumption over time
Per-run usage details with token counts and credits charged
Payment activity and billing history
5. Check seat limits
Each plan includes a set number of team seats. When you invite a new member, Hookshot™ checks the seat count against your plan limit. If the limit is reached, you need to upgrade the plan or remove existing members before sending new invites.
How to verify
Your credit balance reflects expected usage
Auto top-up triggers correctly when the threshold is reached
Usage history matches the Protege runs you observed in Audit
Plan changes take effect on the next billing cycle
Common failures
Expanding a high-volume Protege without monitoring credit consumption
Disabling auto top-up and running out of credits unexpectedly
Assuming enterprise overage is free rather than tracked
Inviting team members without checking the seat limit
Purchasing a pack without confirming whether outstanding debt will be offset first
Next step
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