Tokens & Credits Explained

AI Briefings are powered by a large language model, and that compute isn't free. Tokens are the unit of measurement for that compute. This page explains how the system works and how to use your tokens efficiently.

What Are Tokens?

Tokens are small chunks of text — roughly three to four characters each — that the AI processes when reading source documents and generating a response. When you ask a briefing question, the AI reads relevant library documents, reasons about them, and writes a response. All of that processing is measured in tokens.

Think of tokens as the fuel for AI questions. Browsing, searching, using the Explorer, Timeline, and Graph costs no tokens. Only AI Briefings draw from your token balance.

How Much Do Briefings Cost?

The cost of a briefing depends on two things: the complexity of your question and how many source documents the AI needs to pull in to answer it.

A standard focused question — for example, "What role did Eric Davis play in AATIP?" — typically costs a few hundred tokens.
A broad multi-source question — for example, "Summarize all congressional testimony related to UAP programs from 2017 to 2023" — will cost more because the AI is reading and synthesizing a larger volume of material.
A follow-up branch on an existing briefing costs fewer tokens than a new top-level question because the original context is already cached and doesn't need to be re-loaded. See Branching: Follow-Up Research for details.

The estimated token cost is shown before you submit a question. The actual cost is confirmed after the briefing completes.

Checking Your Balance

Your token balance is displayed in two places:

In the navigation bar at the top of the page when you are signed in.
On your account page at /account, where you can see a full history of token usage alongside your current balance.

Tip: Check your balance before running a large or complex query. If you are running low, top up first — a briefing that runs out of tokens mid-way will not complete.

Buying More Tokens

When you need to top up, go to your account page and select a token package. Payments are processed securely through Stripe. Packages are available at several sizes to fit different research needs, from casual use to deep investigative work.

Tokens Never Expire

Tokens do not have an expiration date. Whatever you buy remains in your balance until you use it. There is no monthly reset, no use-it-or-lose-it deadline, and no subscription required to hold a balance. Buy what you need when you need it.

Getting More Out of Every Token

A few habits that reduce token usage without sacrificing quality:

Use branching for follow-up questions. Once a briefing is complete, the context is cached. Follow-up questions in the same branch thread cost significantly less than starting a fresh briefing on the same topic.
Ask focused questions. Broad questions make the AI search more of the library, which costs more. Narrow, specific questions are both cheaper and tend to return better answers.
Use Search first. If you are not sure what the library contains on a topic, run a free search first to orient yourself. Then ask the AI a targeted question based on what you found — rather than asking the AI to explore from scratch.