> For clean Markdown of any page, append .md to the page URL.
> For a complete documentation index, see https://platform.bctrl.ai/llms.txt.
> For full documentation content, see https://platform.bctrl.ai/llms-full.txt.
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# Credits & top-ups

> Your credit balance, buying more, and auto-reload.

Credits are the currency for all [usage](/pricing/usage-rates). One credit is \$0.001. Your plan grants a batch each cycle; this page covers how the balance works, how to buy more, and how to avoid running dry mid-run.

## Your balance

A balance has three parts:

* **Monthly credits** - the stipend your plan grants each cycle. Resets at renewal.
* **Purchased credits** - credits you bought. They carry over between cycles until spent.
* **Outstanding debt** - usage already run that hasn't been settled against credits.

Your **effective balance** is monthly plus purchased, minus debt. When it reaches zero, new billable work is blocked.

Read the live balance from the [usage](/pricing/usage-rates) endpoint:

```ts
const { credits, isBlocked } = await bctrl.usage.get();

credits.monthlyRemaining;    // plan credits left this cycle
credits.purchasedRemaining;  // top-up credits left
credits.effectiveBalance;    // available minus outstanding debt
isBlocked;                   // true once the effective balance hits zero
```

## Top up

Developer and Business plans can buy credits anytime from the [dashboard](https://app.bctrl.ai). Buy any amount; at \$0.001 per credit, a \$50 top-up adds 50,000 credits. Purchased credits carry over between cycles - only the monthly stipend resets.

Free plans cannot buy credits. They stop billable work when the monthly stipend runs out.

## Auto-reload

Auto-reload buys credits for you so a job never stalls on an empty balance. Configure it in the [dashboard](https://app.bctrl.ai) with three settings:

* **Threshold** - the balance at which a reload triggers.
* **Amount** - how many credits to buy per reload.
* **Monthly cap** - the most auto-reload will spend in a calendar month.

A reload fires when your balance drops below the threshold, or when a run needs funds it doesn't have. BCTRL buys another batch up to the monthly cap. Available on Developer and Business.

## When you run out

| Plan                 | What happens                                                                                                      |
| -------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Free                 | Billable work stops until the next cycle.                                                                         |
| Developer / Business | Runs continue on purchased credits or auto-reload. Without either, new billable work is blocked until you top up. |

When work is blocked, `usage.get()` returns `isBlocked: true` and a `blockedReasons` list.

## Next

* [Pricing overview](/pricing) - plans and the credits model
* [Usage rates](/pricing/usage-rates) - what each resource costs
* [Subaccount billing](/pricing/subaccounts) - per-customer budgets