Account, Usage, and Models

Cola's model access depends on account state. After you sign in, Cola refreshes your account, membership, credit balances, model tiers, and required cloud configuration.

Why Sign-In Is Needed

After you sign in to a Cola account, Cola can:

• Load available models and model tiers.
• Show credit balances and history.
• Use the credits your membership and top-ups provide.
• Refresh required authorization state and service configuration.

Without sign-in, some models, credits, payment, and account features may be unavailable.

Sign-in methods

In Settings > Account, the account line lists your phone number and email address. Whichever one is not linked yet shows Link instead of a value: enter the number or address, confirm the one-time code, and you can sign in to this account with it from then on.

• Each kind of contact holds one value; changing a linked one is not supported yet.
• If that number or address already belongs to another Cola account, the link is refused and Cola tells you.

Model Tiers

In Settings > Model, you can choose from available model tiers. A tier can contain multiple underlying models for different speed, quality, or task-type tradeoffs.

Common states include:

• Selected: new tasks use this tier.
• Limited-time free: the tier is currently free, but this may change later.
• Custom: the current model configuration does not match a standard tier, usually because of manual configuration or a preserved older setting.

When switching to a beta model, Cola prompts for confirmation about the risk. Switching models can rebuild the current session and affect continuity with the previous conversation.

Each model in the model picker shows an availability indicator. The colors mean:

• Green: running normally.
• Yellow: reduced performance; the model is still usable.
• Red: currently unavailable; try a different model.

Hover over the indicator to see its description.

The model picker also carries an account card at the top: your membership name and the days left sit in the top-left corner — your membership state when there is no active membership — and open Settings > Usage when clicked; Top Up and Invite sit on the right; and below them each balance is listed separately — Auto credits, Monthly general credits, and Permanent credits — with a progress bar when your membership tier comes with an allotment for that kind.

Models your account cannot use show a lock on the right. Clicking that row does not switch models; it takes you to buy a membership or top up credits instead.

Credits

In Settings > Usage, you can view:

• Total credits, plus the Auto credits, Monthly general credits, and Permanent credits balances. The button beside the total reads Top Up while you have an active membership and Upgrade membership when you do not; the latter opens the pricing page to start one.
• Your membership: its name, the days left, and the expiry date, next to View membership plans — plus Manage when there is a subscription you can manage.
• Daily Credits limit: the cap you set on your own daily spending, Not set by default.
• Credits History.
• Usage records for today, the last 7 days, or all time.

Hover the small icon beside each balance to see where that kind can be spent and when it expires: Auto credits are marked Auto only, the other two All models; Permanent credits are marked Never expire, while the other two list their batches with Credits and Expires, soonest first. Credits of one kind granted on separate occasions stay separate batches with their own expiry dates.

When general credits reach zero, a line appears under the card: it tells you Auto is still usable while Auto credits remain, and points you to a top-up or the membership plans once nothing is left.

Membership and credit balances are counted separately: spending every credit leaves your membership intact, and a lapsed membership does not void credits that have not expired.

When model calls, cloud capabilities, or related services consume credits, your balances change. If credits are insufficient, tasks fail and ask you to check your credits.

How Media Generation Is Billed

Image, video, and speech (including podcast) generation are separate paid generation calls, charged to your credits by actual usage and billed independently of ordinary model calls. They are not free, and they are not priced as a regular model call.

Image generation can be paid with Auto credits. Video, speech, and podcast generation cannot: they draw only on monthly general credits or permanent credits. An account holding nothing but Auto credits (a Basic membership, for example) needs to top up permanent credits before generating video or podcasts.

For larger video generations, Cola usually runs a cost estimate first — you can also just ask it to estimate before starting. Media generation spending appears in the same transaction records.

Gift Cards

In Settings > Usage, click Gift card under the Invite & Redeem section and enter a redemption code. A code can grant credits or a plan benefit, depending on its type; a plan-type code grants the membership of its tier along with that tier's credits. After a successful redemption, your credits and membership refresh automatically.

If you already have an active paid plan, plan-type codes cannot be redeemed until the current plan ends.

Top Up

If you are low on credits, open the top-up page from your credits or from pricing. Cola opens the payment page in your browser. After payment finishes, return to Cola and check your balances.

A top-up buys Permanent credits, which never expire.

Credits may take a few minutes to refresh. If you have completed payment but the interface has not changed, wait briefly, reopen Settings, or use the relevant refresh entry.

Before topping up, confirm:

• You are signed in to the Cola account you want to credit.
• The payment page domain and amount are correct.
• Your browser is not blocked by a company network, proxy, or payment risk check.

What New Accounts Receive

Signing up gives you a 3-day membership trial plus a grant of Auto credits (usable on Auto models only), which expire 3 days after you sign up; refer to the in-app display for the exact amount. Signing up through an invite link, or entering a valid invite code while you are still eligible, adds a second grant of Auto credits on top.

Once those expire, start a membership or top up credits to continue.

Invite Code

• Entering someone's invite code: the entry point is in the Invite & Redeem section of Settings > Usage. You can submit a code once within 3 days of signing up, and a valid code earns you an extra grant of Auto credits that expires 3 days after signup along with the signup grant. If you already claimed a reward through an invite link, you do not need to enter a code — the two cannot be used together. Once submitted, the code cannot be changed or replaced, so check it carefully. Users past the time window, or who have already submitted a code, do not see this entry.
• Inviting friends: open Refer your friends from the Cola menu in the top-left corner, or click Invite in the Invite & Redeem section of Settings > Usage. The dialog shows your invite link with a Copy link button; there is also an invite entry at the top of the model picker. A friend who downloads and signs up for Cola through your link receives an extra grant of Auto credits. The dialog shows your Invited friends count and the Reward rules; there is no limit on how many people you invite. For 30 days after a friend signs up, each of their top-ups also earns you a proportional credit commission, recorded in Credits History as Referral commission; the dialog no longer tallies it.

Membership

A membership is a monthly subscription and comes in three tiers: Basic, Plus, and Pro. Prices and what each tier includes are on the pricing page; buying and renewing both happen on that page in your browser, and the checkout page shows the actual amounts.

• Every renewal issues that tier's Auto credits and Monthly general credits in one grant, valid for 30 days. There is no daily refresh any more, and whatever is left when the 30 days end expires with them.
• Auto credits only pay for Auto models, plus web search, web fetch, image generation, and extra app creation. Every other model — and video, speech, and podcast generation — draws on monthly general credits or permanent credits.
• The spending order is fixed: an Auto model takes Auto credits first, then monthly general credits, then permanent credits; other models skip Auto credits. Within one kind, the batch that expires soonest goes first.
• Mid-cycle upgrades and downgrades are not supported. To change tier, buy the new one after the current cycle ends.
• Which models a membership covers is shown by what you can select in the model picker.

Your current membership appears under Settings > Usage and on the account card at the top of the model picker.

When You Run Out of Credits

When a task fails for lack of credits, the error in the conversation is not the raw upstream error — it is one line plus buttons you can act on:

• Insufficient credits for this model: the line underneath explains that Auto credits only work with Auto and that other models need monthly general or permanent credits, and it offers Top Up, View credits, and Main model selection. An account down to Auto credits alone gets this same message on any other model — switching back to Auto lets you continue.
• Your daily Credits limit has been reached: this is the cap you set yourself. The message carries an Adjust Limit button; raise or remove the Daily Credits limit under Settings > Usage to continue.

Model Unavailable

If Cola says a model is unavailable, quota is exceeded, requests are too frequent, or an API key is invalid, check in this order:

1. Confirm that you are signed in to Cola.
2. Open Settings > General and refresh account-related configuration.
3. Open Settings > Model and confirm that the selected model tier is still available.
4. Open Settings > Usage and confirm that you have enough credits, noting which kind the model needs.
5. If you just switched models, start a new task and try again.

If it still fails, see Troubleshooting.

Sign Out

Signing out of Cola clears the current account state and some account-related cache. It does not automatically delete local chat history, memory, logs, or output files.

If you are switching accounts, handing off the computer, or fully cleaning local data, continue with Backup, Migration, and Uninstall.

Delete Account

Settings > About has Delete account. Clicking it checks your account state first, then opens a confirmation that spells out four things: deletion cannot be undone; your sign-in methods are unlinked and can be linked to another account; account benefits do not transfer; and local chats, memories, and files are kept. Only a second Delete account actually submits it, and Cancel backs out at any point.

Deletion is blocked while benefits are still outstanding. The dialog then reads Cannot delete account yet and names the reason:

• Purchased credits remain: use them up, or contact support.
• An active membership, subscription, or unfinished monthly pass benefit: retry once those end, or contact support.

After a successful deletion Cola signs out on this computer. If the account is deleted but the local sign-out does not finish, the app asks you to restart Cola. If the account state cannot be verified, nothing is submitted — try again later.