Skip to main content
An assistant connected over MCP spends the same API credits as a script calling the REST API, at the same prices, from the same monthly pool. The pool belongs to the connection’s current workspace: switch workspace and the next call is paid by the new one.

​
What a tool call costs

Each tool calls one REST operation and costs what that operation costs. The tool’s description ends with its price, so the assistant knows it before it calls. Tools has the exact price of every tool, and API credits has the full cost table for REST. A few things change the count, not the price:
  • Page size. A page costs the same with 5 items or 50. List tools return 20 items by default and at most 50. Reviews, shop products and related keywords come in pages of up to 25.
  • detail. concise returns fewer fields at the same price.
  • Product IDs. get_products takes up to 30 IDs in one call over MCP (100 over REST).

​
What is free

You never pay for:
  • Errors, including limits, plan refusals and anything Alura got wrong.
  • Empty results. A search with no matches costs nothing.
  • Items Alura doesn’t have. A product, shop or keyword that is unavailable, pending or not found costs nothing, alone or in a batch.
  • Results the assistant never received. A result that fails Alura’s own checks is not delivered and not charged.
  • Saved research writes and container lists, usage, categories and workspace tools.

​
Items Alura doesn’t have

For now, Alura answers only with products, shops and keywords it already has. One it hasn’t seen comes back as fetch_unavailable, or in a batch’s unfetched list, and costs nothing. When Alura starts fetching new items from Etsy on request, the server will wait for you: it checks again after 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 seconds, for up to 20 seconds, and returns the product or keyword when it’s ready. The waiting will be free; you pay once, for the result you get. A new shop takes minutes, so the tool will answer at once with "status": "pending" and retry_after_seconds.

​
See what your assistant spent

  • In the chat. Every tool result carries _meta.credits_charged, what that call cost. Not every assistant shows it.
  • Ask. “How many Alura API credits do I have left this month?” calls get_usage, which is free and needs the usage:read permission.
  • In Alura. Settings > API shows credits used this month, by day, and By app: Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor, scripts and other apps. Owners and admins see it.

​
Monthly and daily limits

Credits reset on the 1st of each month at midnight UTC. Paid plans can use up to a quarter of the month’s API credits in one UTC day; Free has no daily ceiling. When a limit is reached, the tool returns an error the assistant can read: Allowances by plan are on API credits.