Usage Budgets
Steinkauz Budgets govern how much inference spend (money and/or tokens) each member or dedicated API key may use on each provider instance.
Where to configure
- Settings → Budgets — org admins (and Individual workspace owners) allocate the System Gateway pool and optional BYOK caps.
- Settings → API Keys — create keys in inherit (default) or dedicated Budget mode.
System Gateway pool
On Gateway plans, paid seats × budget-per-seat form a zero-sum money pool for the billing period. Admins split that pool across:
- Users — each billable member’s System Gateway money cap
- API allocation — mass reserved for dedicated API keys (including unassigned leftover)
Edits that would break conservation or set a cap below that subject’s spend this period are rejected.
API key modes
| Mode | Who is gated |
|---|---|
| Inherit (default) | Creator’s user Budgets (same as chat) |
| Dedicated | The key itself; System Gateway money comes from API allocation leftover ($0 allowed) |
You can switch modes after create. Spend history stays on the subject that recorded it. Switching dedicated → inherit (or revoking a dedicated key) returns Gateway money mass to leftover and retires optional BYOK/token rows.
Exhaustion
When any configured unit (money, input tokens, or output tokens) has Remaining ≤ 0, further inference for that subject on that provider is blocked. Chat hard-stops; Platform API returns 402 insufficient_quota on the next attempt after an overshooting call (that call still completes with HTTP 200).
BYOK providers with no Budget row stay uncapped by Steinkauz until you set optional caps on the Budgets page.
Other providers (BYOK)
On a non–System Gateway tab, each billable member can have optional Cost ($), Tokens In, and Tokens Out caps. Empty means uncapped; 0 means immediately exhausted. Token caps show compact counts (K/M/B) until you focus the field. Period spend shows used/cap progress when a track is set.
If the provider reports tokens but not cost (or the reverse), a warning appears once for that provider — those Budgets cannot gate spend until metering matches. Saving never blocks on that warning.
Unsaved edits for the active provider use the shared save bar (Save applies all dirty member rows on that tab).