Credits & Cost Management

Credits are how you pay for agent work in Obvious. Think of them like prepaid minutes — each time the agent reads, writes, searches, or generates something on your behalf, it uses a small number of credits.

How Credits Work

When you interact with the agent — asking it to analyze data, write a document, search the web, or generate an image — Obvious tracks the resources used and deducts credits from your workspace balance. Credits are shared across your workspace, so every member draws from the same pool.

New workspaces start with 25 free credits that expire after 14 days. That's enough to explore the agent before you add a payment method.

What Uses Credits

Three things consume credits:

AI processing. Every message the agent sends uses AI models to think and respond. The cost depends on the conversation length and task complexity. A quick question uses far fewer credits than a deep analysis across multiple documents.

Tools. When the agent runs code, searches the web, or generates images, those tools use a small, fixed number of credits per action.

Agent modes. Different modes use different AI models. Fast mode costs less because it uses a lighter model. Deep mode costs more because it uses more powerful reasoning. The default mode sits in between. You choose the mode based on the task.

Costs vary by task complexity and mode — enable Advanced Cost Management Mode to see per-thread breakdowns.

Credit Pricing

Credit pricing is shown in Settings → Workspace → Billing. You can purchase credits in any amount, and they don't expire. Subscription credits included with Team plans expire at the end of each billing period, but purchased credits stay in your account until you use them.

Auto-Reload

Running out of credits mid-task is disruptive. Auto-reload prevents that by automatically purchasing more when your balance drops below a threshold you set.

To configure it, go to Settings → Workspace → Billing and enable Auto-reload credits. You choose how many credits to reload each time, set a monthly spending cap, and pick the balance threshold that triggers a purchase. When your balance hits that threshold, Obvious charges your payment method, adds the credits, and the agent picks up where it left off.

Note: Auto-reload requires a payment method on file. Add one in Settings → Workspace → Billing.

Monitoring Your Usage

Your current credit balance, purchase history, and invoices live in Settings → Workspace → Billing.

For more granular tracking, enable Advanced Cost Management Mode in Settings → Personalization. This adds credit counters to each conversation thread so you can see exactly how much a specific task costs. Most users don't need it, but it's useful for managing a team budget or understanding usage patterns.

Tip: Use Fast mode for straightforward tasks and save Deep mode for complex analysis. Set a monthly auto-reload limit to cap your spending.

Credit Limit Warnings

If your workspace admin has set a per-user credit limit, Obvious displays warning banners in the chat footer when you're approaching or have exceeded that limit. These banners appear above the prompt input in each thread.

There are two types:

Approaching limit (amber). Appears when you've used 75% of your credit limit for the billing cycle. The banner shows how many credits you've used, your total limit, and your usage percentage — for example: "You've used 750 of 1,000 credits this billing cycle (75%)." This is an early signal to pace your usage or ask your admin about your limit.

Limit exceeded (orange). Appears when you've gone over your credit limit. The banner reads: "You've exceeded your credit limit for this billing cycle. Agent execution may continue but usage is being monitored." Under soft enforcement, the agent keeps running — your usage is tracked and visible to your admin, but you're not blocked.

Note: Banners are dismissable per thread. Clicking the × closes the banner for that thread, but it may reappear in new threads if the condition still applies. If your admin has configured hard enforcement instead of soft enforcement, the agent will stop executing when the limit is reached — contact your admin if you're unsure which applies to your account.

Credit limits are configured by workspace admins in Settings → Workspace → Members. If you don't see any banners, your admin hasn't set a limit for your account.

Troubleshooting

If your credit balance looks unexpected or you have questions about billing, check your purchase history in Settings → Workspace → Billing. For further help, contact help@obvious.ai.