Buy Credit (prepaid gateway AI credit top-ups via Stripe checkout)

What it is

Buy Credit lets a signed-in Omniscio user top up their prepaid gateway AI credit with a credit card. You pick an amount, Omniscio opens Stripe's hosted Checkout page in your browser, you pay, and the credit lands on your balance a moment later. It's the self-serve way to keep gateway credit on hand so your AI work never stalls for lack of funds.

Buying is 1:1 face value: pay $25 and you get $25 of usable credit. The card processing fee is absorbed — it is not added on top and it does not eat into the credit you receive.

Spending it is not 1:1. Each request billed against the balance is charged at the real upstream cost plus a flat 10% surcharge (DEFAULT_MARKUP_PCT = 10 in gateway/gateway/credits.ts, baked into the deployed service as GATEWAY_MARKUP_PCT=10), so $25 of credit buys about $22.73 of AI at provider list prices. The 1:1 promise is about the purchase, never the burn rate — do not describe the balance as un-marked-up. Using an own API key skips the credit balance and the surcharge entirely.

The Buy Credit card lives in Settings → Accounts & AI → Plan & Usage, directly under the "Credits remaining" balance, so buying more sits right where you see what's left — alongside your plan and monthly allowance. The same balance also shows under Settings → API Keys (where creating a pooled key needs it), with a link back to Plan & Usage to add credit. (Moved here 2026-08-18 in the money-surface consolidation; it was previously under Settings → API Keys.)

Where to find it

Settings → Accounts & AI → Plan & Usage, in the Buy Credit card under the Credits remaining balance. (The balance is also visible under Settings → API Keys.)

How it behaves

How to use it

1. Open Settings → Accounts & AI → Plan & Usage and find the Buy Credit card under your Credits remaining balance.
2. Pick an amount. There are four one-tap presets — $10 / $25 / $50 / $100 — or enter a custom amount (minimum $5, maximum $1,000).
3. Omniscio opens Stripe Checkout in your browser. Stripe is the payment processor; your card details are entered on Stripe's own hosted page, never inside Omniscio.
4. Complete the payment on Stripe. When you're done you're returned to Omniscio.
5. Your balance updates shortly after payment — a verified Stripe webhook adds the credit. If you don't see it immediately, refresh the balance; crediting is near-instant but not synchronous with closing the Checkout tab.

Money-safety facts

• 1:1 face value on the PURCHASE, fee absorbed. $25 paid → $25 of credit. The processing fee is covered for you, so what you pay is what you get.
• Cost + 10% on the SPEND. Each request billed against the balance is charged at real upstream cost plus a flat 10% surcharge, so $25 of credit buys ≈ $22.73 of AI. This is the only markup; an own API key bills the provider directly and skips it.
• Presets + custom range. $10 / $25 / $50 / $100 presets, or any custom amount from $5 to $1,000.
• Credit is applied by a verified webhook, not by the browser returning. Omniscio only adds credit when Stripe's signed webhook confirms the payment succeeded, so a closed tab or a flaky network can't leave you paid-but-not-credited — the balance catches up on the next refresh.
• Refunds and chargebacks auto-debit the credit back out. If a payment is later refunded or charged back, the corresponding credit is automatically removed from your balance, so the balance always reflects money actually settled.

Related

• plan-billing.md — the Plan & Usage screen where the Buy Credit card now lives
• api-keys.md — the Settings → API Keys panel, which still shows the balance for key creation
• cost-control.md — watching spend and managing budget caps on your AI usage