Credits and Cashu

PlebChat credits pay for the built-in AI provider without a subscription or conventional account.

Add credits

Open the lightning-bolt balance in the sidebar:

1. Choose an amount and pay the Lightning invoice, or paste a Cashu token.
2. Wait for the balance to update.
3. Choose a PlebChat model and send a message.

The balance is measured in sats. Model prices are shown as sats per million tokens, and the panel reports total spending and an estimate for the latest reply.

A send needs enough free credits for about two full replies at your current Max reply tokens setting. We lock one reply's worth while the model runs and return what you do not use. A long agent chat can stop mid-way if the balance gets too low — add credits and send again.

What Cashu changes

Cashu is bearer ecash backed by a Lightning-connected mint. A Cashu token can move without creating a customer account: possession of the token is what makes it spendable.

When you deposit, the paygate gives this browser a balance key. That key is encrypted with your PlebChat settings so the balance can follow the same Nostr identity to another device.

Withdraw

Choose Withdraw all to ecash to turn the remaining balance back into a Cashu token. Copy the token somewhere safe before closing the panel. Anyone who has an unspent token can redeem it.

The trust model

Cashu is not magic removal of trust:

• A mint backs the ecash and must remain solvent and available.
• While credits sit in the PlebChat paygate, the displayed balance is a claim on that service's hot-wallet funds.
• Withdrawal reduces lock-in but does not make a deposited balance self-custodied.
• AI requests still pass through the selected provider and, for the built-in option, the PlebChat paygate.

Use a balance appropriate for near-term AI use and withdraw what you do not plan to spend.

Alpha payments

PlebChat is pre-release. Confirm whether the current environment uses real or test value before depositing.