Credits

Credits are the unit of usage on Dust. Every AI interaction (sending a message, running an agent, using a tool) consumes credits. This page explains what credits are, how they’re calculated, and when usage is free.

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What is a credit?

A credit represents a unit of AI work performed on Dust. Credits are consumed whenever you interact with agents, use tools, or run automated workflows. Credits are not transferable between users, do not roll over to the next billing period, and are not refundable.

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How credits are calculated

Each interaction consumes credits based on two components that are added together: total credits = token credits + action credits

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Token credits

Token credits are proportional to the amount of AI processing involved in generating a response. More complex queries, longer contexts, and more capable models consume more token credits.

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Action credits

Action credits are a fixed amount charged per tool action, regardless of response length. Tools are grouped into 3 tiers:

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Sub-agent costs

When an agent runs sub-agents in the background, each sub-agent’s credit cost is added to the total. Costs accumulate across the full agent chain and are displayed alongside the main agent cost.

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Credit-spend checkpoints

To help prevent a single long-running task from using excessive credits, Dust pauses a root task started from the web app or browser extension when its cumulative AI spend reaches 600 AWU credits. Spend from sub-agents in the same task counts toward the checkpoint. When Dust pauses a task, it marks the conversation as requiring action and displays a checkpoint card:

• Yes, continue resumes the task from the next step. Dust does not ask again for the same task after you continue.
• No, stop cancels the task and prevents it from using more credits.
• If you are viewing the conversation but did not start the task, Dust waits for the person who started it to decide.

This checkpoint applies to root tasks started from the web app or browser extension. It does not pause sub-agent messages or tasks started from other origins. The checkpoint measures AWU credits for AI processing; tool credits are not included. The checkpoint is on by default for every workspace. Admins can turn it off entirely from Admin > Usage > Settings tab > Cost management; the toggle only switches the checkpoint on or off, the 600-credit threshold itself is fixed and not configurable. Managers can also exempt a specific agent from ever pausing with the Ignore credit spend threshold alert setting in that agent’s builder, under Cost Management.

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When credits are not consumed

Some interactions are exempt from credit consumption:

• Sidekick: all Sidekick interactions (Tokens and Actions) are free and do not consume credits.

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Credit cost display

After each message, Dust shows the credit cost of that interaction directly in the conversation. This lets every member track their usage in real time without navigating to the Usage page. The display includes the cost of the main agent response and any sub-agents that ran in the background as part of that interaction.

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Credit allocations by seat type

Each seat type includes a credit allocation (see Seat management for details on seat types and how to assign them): Credits are tied to the individual user, not the seat. Changing or unassigning a seat does not revoke credits already allocated: the user retains them and can continue consuming them until the end of their current period. For details on how credits are drawn from different sources (individual allocation, workspace pool, overage), see Credit management.

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Credit reset

Individual seat credits reset monthly, on the anniversary of your subscription start date. Unused credits do not carry over to the following month. Free seat credits are a one-time lifetime allocation and do not reset.