Coding Agent hosted runs on credit

A hosted run of the coding agent works in a box that iKanban starts for you. Your machine needs no AWS account. The workspace pays for each second of box time from credit that an owner or admin adds by card.

A team that runs the box in its own AWS account, and every local run, uses no credit.

What it costs

The price is per second of box time. Admin → Billing → Coding Agent hosted runs shows it as a price per hour.
A run's cost is its box time, in whole seconds, times the price that applied when its box started.
iKanban measures the box time itself. Your machine does not report it.
Your model provider bills your Claude key separately. Credit pays only for the box.

Turn it on and add credit

Only a workspace owner or admin can do this. Every plan can use hosted runs: the credit is the only thing a run needs.

Open Admin → Billing.
In Coding Agent hosted runs, select Turn on hosted runs.
Choose an amount in the list, from $2, and select Add credit. Stripe's payment page opens.
Pay by card. Stripe keeps the card for Automatic reload, which stays off until you turn it on. The balance shows the top-up when you return. Use the refresh button if it does not show yet.

A member who is not an owner or admin does not see this section.

Connect your repositories

Only a workspace owner or admin can do this, and GitHub must show them as an owner of the GitHub account: connect your own GitHub in Agent settings → Git connections first. A hosted run cannot start before it is done.

Connect GitHub to iKanban, if you have not: Agent settings → Git connections, and install the iKanban GitHub App.
Open Admin → Billing, Repositories for hosted runs.
Select Open the app on GitHub. Install the Coding Agent GitHub App on the same GitHub account, and choose the repositories it may use.
Come back and select Connect repositories. The label shows "Connected" and the account's name.

Automatic reload

With automatic reload on, iKanban charges your card when credit runs low, so a run is not refused for low credit. A workspace owner or admin turns it on, and only the person whose own top-up saved the card. Any owner or admin can turn it off.

Add credit by card once. Stripe keeps that card. iKanban keeps only its brand and its last four digits.
Open Admin → Billing, Automatic reload.
Choose the amount that available credit must fall under, from $2, and the amount to add, from $10. The amount to add is never the smaller of the two.
Read the sentence that names both amounts and the card. Select Agree and turn on.

iKanban then charges the card when available credit is under your amount: straight after a run's cost, and at a check every 5 minutes. Select Turn off to stop it at any time. While reload is on, a new top-up does not change the card; turn reload off and on again to use the newest top-up's card.

Limits and refusals

What happens	Where you see it	How to change it
The minimum. A hosted run is refused while Available is under the minimum to start a run. No box starts.	The CLI prints the balance, the minimum and the Billing page's address. Admin → Billing shows "Under the minimum: new runs are refused".	An owner or admin adds credit on Admin → Billing.
The hold. When a box starts, iKanban sets aside the most that run can cost: the price times the time limit. Available is the balance less every hold. A run also needs Available to cover its hold.	Held by running boxes on Admin → Billing.	The unused part comes back when the box stops. Nothing to change.
The one hour limit. A box runs for at most one hour. iKanban then stops it and charges for the time used. A machine that loses power is charged to the limit at most.	The run's entry on Admin → Billing shows its box time.	Split a long task into smaller runs.
A run that has started finishes. A run is not stopped when the balance gets low. The next run is refused under the minimum.	The next run's refusal in the CLI.	Add credit.
The plan. Every plan can use hosted runs, the lowest too. A workspace that iKanban has disabled cannot.	The message on Admin → Billing, or in the CLI.	Contact support@verbodh.com about a disabled workspace.
The repository. A run starts only on a repository the Coding Agent GitHub App may use, on the GitHub account connected to this workspace. One GitHub account connects to one workspace.	The CLI says "Your team's GitHub App installation does not cover this repository." Admin → Billing shows "Not connected: no run can start", or the reason a connection was refused.	An owner or admin follows Connect your repositories above, or adds the repository to the app on GitHub.
A card dispute. A dispute on a top-up takes the disputed amount out of the balance at once. It comes back if the bank rules for us.	A Card dispute entry, and a Dispute won entry, on Admin → Billing.	Contact support@verbodh.com before you dispute a payment.
No refunds. Credit is not refunded.	The ? beside the section's title.	Add only what you plan to use. The smallest amount is $2, the first in the list.
Credit expires. Credit expires 12 months after you add it. A run's cost takes the oldest credit first. Credit that running boxes hold is not removed until they stop.	Admin → Billing lists what is left and the date it expires. A Credit expired entry shows what was removed.	Use the credit, or add less at a time.
Automatic reload. At most two reload charges start in 24 hours. A charge that fails adds no credit and turns reload off. A card dispute on any credit payment turns reload off and forgets the card. Reload also goes off when the person who turned it on is no longer an owner or admin. While a charge has no answer from Stripe, no second one starts. A workspace that iKanban has disabled is not charged.	Automatic reload on Admin → Billing shows On, Off, or "Off: the last charge failed" with the reason. Every owner and admin gets the "Automatic reload failed" notice, in the inbox and by email. An Automatic reload entry shows each charge.	Add credit by card, then turn reload on again. Past two charges in a day, add credit by card.
Top-up amounts. Only the amounts in the list can be bought, from $2.	The amount list beside Add credit on Admin → Billing.	iKanban sets the amounts.

Set up your machine

Each person uses their own agent key. An owner or admin gets one on Admin → Billing → Set up your machine for hosted runs → Get an agent key. The key is shown once. iKanban does not keep it.

Install the CLI. It is not published as a package yet, so install it from a checkout of the iKanban repository:
```
uv tool install ./vibe-coding-agent
```
Sign in. Paste your agent key when the CLI asks for the team key. The CLI keeps the key in ~/.ikanban-agent/config.json, which only you can read.
```
ikanban-agent login --url https://agent.i-kanban.com
```
Choose the hosted box. Leave IKANBAN_AGENT_CODE_INTERPRETER unset: with it set, the run uses your own AWS account and no credit.
```
export IKANBAN_AGENT_BOX=hosted
```
Give the run your own Claude key. In a hosted run the agent can read this key inside the box, so use a key that has a spend limit.
```
export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=<your Anthropic Console key>
```
Start a run from your repository's folder:
```
ikanban-agent run "<your task>"
```

Your key stops working when you leave the workspace, or when the workspace is disabled.