Credits & Billing

OpenStory uses a credit-based system for AI generation. You can either bring your own API keys (BYOK) or purchase credits.

Credits Page

Navigate to Credits from the user menu. The page has three tabs:

Balance

View your current credit balance and purchase additional credits via Stripe. After a successful purchase, a confirmation is shown. If you cancel checkout, a cancellation notice appears.

Transactions

View your transaction history — a log of credit purchases, usage, and adjustments.

Gift Codes

Redeem gift codes to add credits to your account.

Billing Gate

When you try to generate content without sufficient credits or API keys, a billing gate dialog appears. This dialog explains what's needed and provides options:

• Add Credits — Purchase credits via Stripe
• Add API Keys — Bring your own keys for direct provider access
• OpenRouter OAuth — Connect via OpenRouter for LLM access

The billing gate appears contextually — at first visit (onboarding) and when attempting generation without sufficient resources.

API Keys (BYOK)

Navigate to Settings > API Keys to manage your own provider keys:

Fal.ai Key

Used for image generation, video/motion generation, and music generation. Fal.ai is the primary provider for all media generation models.

OpenRouter Key

Used for script analysis (LLM calls). You can either:

• Enter a key manually — Paste your OpenRouter API key
• Connect via OAuth — One-click OAuth flow that automatically provisions a key

How BYOK Works

When you provide your own API keys:

• Credits are not consumed for that provider
• You're billed directly by the provider
• Both BYOK and credits can coexist — BYOK is used when a key is available, credits are used otherwise

Insufficient Credits

If you run out of credits during generation:

• In-progress work continues (workflows are durable)
• New generation requests show an error toast: "Insufficient credits" with an Add Credits action button
• The billing gate dialog appears when you try to generate