Using paid tools

AI Coach is pay-as-you-go. Reads are always free; running compute (nano apps, model bake-offs) comes out of a top-up wallet. No subscription.

The free tier

• All read-only MCP/website surfaces — search, get, list, compare. No key required.
• 3 runs/day per nano app, signed-in users only. Counter resets at UTC midnight.
• (When shipped) 5 model bake-offs/day capped at 3 models and 8k output tokens.

Topping up

Top up on /account. Three packages:

• $5 — straight credit.
• $20 + $2 bonus.
• $50 + $10 bonus.

Hitting the paywall through MCP

When a paid call exceeds free tier or your wallet is empty, the MCP server returns a structured payment_required content block:

{
  "isError": true,
  "content": [{
    "type": "resource",
    "resource": {
      "uri": "https://aicoach.pw/billing/checkout?return=mcp:abc123",
      "mimeType": "text/html"
    }
  }, {
    "type": "text",
    "text": "Payment required: this call needs $0.40 in your wallet. Top up at the URL above."
  }]
}

Compatible agents (Claude Code, Cursor) render the link so you can top up and re-run the call without leaving the agent.

Spend caps

Every API key supports daily and monthly spend caps. Set them when issuing the key on /account/api-keys. Caps are enforced server-side — once exceeded, paid calls hard-stop with payment_required until midnight UTC (daily) or the 1st of the month (monthly).

Refunds

Failed paid calls auto-refund. The refund shows up in your request log as a refund ledger entry restoring the debited amount. You don't need to ask.

See where your money went

/account/requests shows every billable call — web tool runs, MCP calls, ACP calls — with cost, latency, status, and which API key was used. CSV export for accounting.