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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.

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.

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.

Complete operation cost reference

The authoritative table.

Inspector-facing operations (mobile)

OperationCodenameCostWhere
AI Generate (text-only)generate-narrative2 ITCapture Screen → ✦ AI Generate (Vision OFF)
Vision Analysisvision-analyze8 ITCapture Screen → ✦ AI Generate (Vision ON)
Library Search 🪄semantic-search1 ITCapture Screen → 🪄 button
FREE Library chips(local)0 ITCapture Screen — automatic on caption typing
Save to Narrative Libraryprovision-library-entry1 ITCapture Screen → Save to Library
System Info Tag (photo)extract-metadata-photo3 ITCapture Screen → ℹ️ Sys Info (with label)
System Info Tag (text)extract-metadata-text1 ITCapture Screen → ℹ️ Sys Info (text-only)

Admin-facing operations (web)

OperationCodenameCostWhere
AI Draft (per finding)generate-narrative2 ITReport Workspace → AI Draft tab
Polish Narrativepolish-narrative2 ITInspection Reviewer → narrative editor → Polish
Polish Reportpolish-report10 ITInspection Reviewer → Polish Report action
System Performance Opiniongenerate-spo10 ITRatings Screen / Reviewer → SPO card
Bundle Findingsbundle-findings2 ITReviewer — automatic at finding consolidation
Voice DNA — extract personaextract-persona50 ITOnboarding — one-time per inspector
Schema extraction (OCR)extract-structured-ocr3 ITTemplates → PDF upload → AI extract

Free operations (0 IT)

OperationCodename
Repair Request generationrepair-request
Property Baselineproperty-baseline
PDF schema extraction (no OCR)extract-pdf-schema
Structured text extractionextract-structured-text

Typical inspection cost

ActivityPer-instanceTypical countTotal IT
Photos + ratings (no AI)030–80 findings0
FREE Library chip selections015–30 selections0
AI Generate (text-only)25–15 findings10–30
Vision Analysis80–5 findings (selective)0–40
Save to Library12–5 saves2–5
Sys Info on equipment32–4 labels6–12
Operator: AI Draft22–8 findings4–16
Operator: SPO per system105 systems50
Total typical80–155 IT
A heavy-AI inspection (Vision everywhere) can run 200–300 IT. A light-AI inspection (mostly FREE chips) can run under 50 IT.

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

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.

Subscription vs top-ups

ModeHow it worksWhen
Subscription bundleYour monthly subscription includes a baseline IT allotmentHigh-volume tenants (50+ inspections/month)
Top-up packsBought ad-hocLow-volume or seasonal tenants
Most tenants run both. Unused subscription IT typically doesn’t roll over — review your plan terms.

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.

When balance is exhausted

Operation triedWhat happens
Vision AnalysisBlocked with the “Insufficient IT Tokens” alert
AI GenerateFalls back to a template CAR narrative (free)
Library SearchError toast; FREE chips continue working
Sys InfoError toast; informational fields can be filled manually
The inspection itself never blocks on IT. AI is pure accelerator; the platform fully functions without it.

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.