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IT Tokens — The AI Currency

IT (Inspection Tokens) are the metered currency for every AI operation on 1nspecT. Every AI call — narrative generation, vision analysis, schema extraction, polish, SPO synthesis — deducts IT from your tenant’s balance. When the balance hits zero, AI calls are blocked until you top up; non-AI operations keep working. This article is the canonical reference: what costs what, where the balance lives, how to top up, and how to economize.

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Why a metered currency?

AI operations call cloud LLMs (Google Gemini, Vertex AI) that cost real money per request. The IT token system means:
  • You pay only for what you use — no flat AI subscription baked into the platform price
  • You can plan AI spend — a typical inspection uses 30–80 IT depending on Vision usage
  • High-cost operations are gated — Vision (8 IT) and Voice DNA (50 IT) pre-flight-check the balance
  • Free operations stay free — FREE Library chips, repair-request generation, and several utilities cost 0 IT
The bucket is tenant-wide, not per-user. All inspectors share the balance.

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Where the balance lives

The IT balance is visible only on the web admin — there is intentionally no balance display on the mobile app. To check:
  1. Sign in to the web admin as Owner
  2. Navigate to Settings → Subscription & Tokens
  3. The current balance and recent usage history appear
Mobile inspectors see token data only via the Insufficient IT Tokens error when a call is blocked.

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Complete operation cost reference

The authoritative table.

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Inspector-facing operations (mobile)

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Admin-facing operations (web)

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Free operations (0 IT)

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Typical inspection cost

A heavy-AI inspection (Vision everywhere) can run 200–300 IT. A light-AI inspection (mostly FREE chips) can run under 50 IT.

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How balance updates work

  • Pre-flight check (Vision): before sending the photo to the model, the backend verifies balance ≥ 8 IT
  • Deduct on success: most operations deduct after a successful AI call. Failed calls don’t deduct.
  • Atomic: the deduction is part of the same Firestore transaction as the result
  • Fire-and-forget for fast operations: some 1-IT operations deduct asynchronously to avoid latency

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Topping up

  1. Owner signs into web admin
  2. Settings → Subscription & Tokens
  3. Purchase Top-Up — choose a pack size
  4. Stripe checkout — pay with the platform’s payment processor
  5. Balance updates within seconds
Pack sizes typically range from small (~500 IT) to bulk (~25,000 IT). Larger packs have a lower per-IT cost.

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Subscription vs top-ups

Most tenants run both. Unused subscription IT typically doesn’t roll over — review your plan terms.

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Economy tips

  • Build the narrative library. Every saved narrative becomes a future FREE chip. After 3–6 months of library investment, FREE chips cover 60–80% of common findings.
  • Use Vision selectively. Save it for findings where the photo really tells the story.
  • Polish only once. Each Polish Narrative call costs 2 IT — don’t run repeatedly.
  • SPO generation late. Wait until all findings are in before generating SPOs.
  • Sys Info only when age matters. For obviously-new equipment, skip the AI call.

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When balance is exhausted

The inspection itself never blocks on IT. AI is pure accelerator; the platform fully functions without it.

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Audit trail

Every IT deduction is logged on aiUsage for the inspection. Review per-inspection AI spend in Inspection Details → History. Cross-inspection AI spend lives in Reports → Inspector Productivity.