Skip to main content
App

Chat

Chat & Credits

Auton Chat is a hosted chat interface for talking to AI models with a single, prepaid credit balance. Top up once with $AUTO or USDC, then spend that balance across any supported model — at a discount to market rates.

Overview

Unlike the forward contracts on the marketplace — which lock a per-model rate for a fixed term — chat credits are a flexible, pay-as-you-go wallet. There's nothing to configure: pick a model, send a message, and your balance is debited for exactly what you use.

  • One balance works across every supported model
  • No API key required — it rides your wallet sign-in session
  • Streamed responses with a live balance update after each reply
  • Upload images to vision-capable models

Unified credits

Credits are denominated in USD value. When you top up $10, you can spend $10 of inference across any mix of models. Each model costs a different amount per token, so cheaper models stretch your balance further — exactly like paying spot, but discounted and prepaid.

Paying with $AUTO or USDC

Top-ups are paid on-chain to the Auton treasury wallet:

  • USDC is credited 1:1 — $10 of USDC adds $10 of credits.
  • $AUTO is valued at the live oracle price at the moment of deposit, then credited as the equivalent USD value.

The payment is verified on-chain before credits are added, and each payment transaction can only be redeemed once.

How spending works

Every message is metered by tokens used and charged against your balance at a discount to the underlying market rate — paying through Auton costs less than going direct. When your balance reaches zero, sending is paused until you top up again.

For programmatic, locked-rate access via API keys (agents, bots, CI), use the Gateway instead — it bills per token against forward compute balances.

Image upload (vision)

Models that accept image input (marked Vision in the model picker) let you attach images to a message. Ask questions about a screenshot, photo, chart, or diagram and the model reasons over the image alongside your text.

  • Supported formats: PNG, JPEG, WebP, and GIF
  • Large images are downscaled in your browser before sending to keep uploads fast
  • Up to 4 images per message
  • Image tokens are billed the same way as text — no separate charge

Image generation (creating new images as output) is a separate capability and is not yet available in chat.

Choosing a model

The model picker lists every supported model with its input and output price. A Vision badge marks models that accept image input, and the attach button appears automatically when such a model is selected. Switch models at any time — the same credit balance applies.