# Understanding Credits

How Starlight's usage-based credit system works.

Starlight uses a credit-based system. Every AI-powered action costs a set number of credits, and your plan determines how many credits you get each month.

## Credit Costs

| Action | Credits | Description |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Search | 12 | Run a new lead or company search |
| Load more results | 8 | Fetch the next page of search results |
| AI search enhance | 2 | AI-powered query refinement |
| Draft with AI | 4 | AI-draft personalized outreach for a lead |
| Preview with AI | 4 | Preview a draft for a recipient in the Outbound builder |
| Enhance brief | 2 | AI-polish your campaign brief |
| Sequence email | 2 | Send an email through a campaign |
| Email verification | 1 | Verify an address before sending |
| AI reply draft | 5 | Generate an AI response to a prospect's reply |
| AI LinkedIn reply | 5 | Generate an AI response to a LinkedIn reply |
| Meeting notes | 5 | Generate AI meeting notes |
| Website scan | 3 | Scan a prospect's website for context |
| LinkedIn scan | 3 | Scan a prospect's LinkedIn for context |
| Research scan | 2 | Per-recipient web research during drafting |
| LinkedIn DM | 2 | Send a LinkedIn direct message via the extension |
| LinkedIn message | 2 | Send a post-connection message or InMail via the extension |
| LinkedIn connection request | 2 | Send a connection request via the extension |
| LinkedIn like | 1 | Like a prospect's post via the extension |
| LinkedIn comment | 2 | Comment on a prospect's post via the extension |
| Contact export | 2 | Export a contact to CSV or CRM |
| Sales intelligence | 4 | Get AI sales intelligence insights |
| Agent tool call | 1 | Each action the AI chat agent runs, added to that action's own cost |

Chatting with the AI agent is free — ask questions and plan as much as you like. You're only charged when the agent takes an action: each tool call costs 1 credit plus that action's own cost (for example, a lead search the agent runs is 12 + 1).

## Checking Your Balance

Your current credit usage is always visible in the sidebar at the bottom left. It shows a progress bar with credits used out of your total allowance.

For a per-charge history of every credit spent, open **Settings → Credits**. It shows a running balance, your recent usage trend, and each transaction with the action that caused it. Plan-level usage lives in **Settings → Plans & Billing**.

## Monthly Reset

Credits reset every 30 days from when your billing cycle started. Unused credits do not roll over to the next month.

## Running Low on Credits

When your credits are running low, you'll receive a **Credits Low** notification. You can:

- **Upgrade your plan** for more monthly credits — see [Plans & Pricing](/docs/billing/plans)
- **Wait for reset** — credits refresh at the start of your next billing cycle

## What Happens When Credits Run Out

When you're out of credits:

- AI-powered actions (search, drafting, meeting notes) will show an upgrade prompt
- Already-scheduled messages will remain queued and send when credits are available
- Manual actions (viewing contacts, reading inbox) continue to work normally