Billing and account lifecycle
Start free using your existing Strata sign-in or a new verified account. Monthly plans describes allowances and charging; live availability comes from /api/billing/status. Every key, agent and production console lookup shares the account's production allowance. Sandbox billing is separate.
Read current state
Personal-key clients use authenticated GET /api/billing/status. MCP clients use strata_account. Registered gateway OAuth clients use gateway account and billing_status with account:read. An unauthenticated status call reports public policy, not a user's private balance. Browser users see account usage at Account.
Subscribe or change plans
The owner starts from Account or an agent-prepared review link. Review the recurring price, immediate amount, timing, credits and terms. Stripe securely collects payment details and any required authentication. Wait for authoritative confirmation before assuming new credits exist.
| Action | Result |
|---|---|
| Subscribe to Pro or Scale | Paid allowance becomes available after verified payment. |
| Upgrade Pro to Scale | Immediate after paid proration; proportional additional credits, same renewal date and preserved usage. |
| Downgrade Scale to Pro | Scheduled for renewal; current period stays on Scale. |
| Cancel renewal | Paid access continues until the displayed period end. |
| Resume renewal | Check the reviewed action and resulting subscription state; do not assume a new purchase is necessary. |
| Payment method or invoices | Secure Stripe portal handoff; returning does not prove a card was saved or invoice paid. |
No automatic overages, top-ups or rollover. An unpaid renewal does not grant fresh paid credits. After the paid period ends, the account returns to its available Free allowance. Refund/dispute review can pause API access; billing management remains available.
Agent-assisted approval
MCP exposes account reads and lookups only. Its user manages billing in the existing account dashboard; after payment, the agent rereads strata_account and resumes unfinished work.
A registered gateway OAuth agent with billing:prepare can submit prepare_billing with an action, optional plan and opaque resumeContext. It creates a review record, not a payment. Reuse a stable idempotency key for an identical preparation retry. The owner signs in and approves the specific quote separately. Agents should retain the original task and action ID.
Read billing_action for that ID. quoted awaits review; pending is unresolved; requires_action needs a Stripe step; confirmed is an authoritative billing outcome. cancelled, expired and failed do not authorize spending new credits. handoff_ready means a portal link is available. Quotes expire after 15 minutes and review records remain for seven days. Do not replace an uncertain pending action with a new charge. The OAuth guide contains exact JSON and token contracts.
Failure, recovery and leaving
If Checkout is closed or payment fails, preserve the original task and check status before retrying. For missing credits after payment, use invoice/action/request references with support. Do not send card details or tokens. A provider outage, global safety limit or short-term rate limit is not a reason to buy a larger plan.
Revoking keys or agents stops their access; signing out ends browser access. Neither cancels renewal. Use Manage billing or a reviewed cancellation action to stop renewal. Password recovery does not automatically revoke every API key; revoke untrusted credentials separately. For deletion or duplicate-account problems, contact support and resolve ownership before creating replacement subscriptions.
Test safely
Approved testers can use sandbox console and agent connection test with their actual Strata identity. Verify the sandbox label before entering test card details. Sandbox credentials, payments and credits do not grant production access. See the complete sandbox walkthrough.