# When money runs out

> How Nodus warns you, stops work gracefully and resumes it when credits, a raised Budget or a raised cap return.

Source: https://nodus-platform-site.pages.dev/docs/guides/billing/when-money-runs-out/
Build revision: 211ad9f836655b1c3a2668c4693e442471f28614

Credits are prepaid. Before paid work starts, Nodus places a funded hold on your balance, and it renews that hold every 5 minutes while the work runs. When a renewal cannot be funded, from your balance, a Budget or a `maxCostUSD` cap, the work stops gracefully inside time that is already paid for. Nothing runs past what you funded, and nothing is lost that the work saved.

## Before you start: fail fast

A create that cannot be funded is refused at once with the amounts and the fix:

```text
402 InsufficientCredits
job "train-a" needs a $3.20 hold to start (released when it ends); available $1.10.
fix: nodus billing top-up 20, or lower spec.maxCostUSD
```

Other refusals are `BudgetExceeded` (a Budget or a cap has too little left), `ArrearsOutstanding` (unpaid charges) and `PaymentDisputed`. A distributed Job checks all of its nodes together: it starts with every node funded or not at all.

## Warnings

When your available balance falls below $5, or below 20 % of what the next renewal of your running work needs, you get a `LowBalance` Event, a `billing.low_balance` webhook, at most one email a day and a console banner. Running work whose funds will run out soon still shows `Funded=True`, and the condition’s message gives the time it will stop. A top-up, a credit grant or an auto-recharge before that time keeps it running.

When a charge is larger than what is left, the rest becomes unpaid charges. You get an `ArrearsPosted` Event, a `billing.arrears_posted` webhook and at most one email a day, and new work waits until a top-up or credit grant pays them.

## How each kind stops

|Kind|What happens|State|Resumes|
|-|-|-|-|
|Job (checkpointed)|Takes an urgent checkpoint, then stops|`Suspended`, `Funded=False`|Automatically once funded, from the checkpoint|
|Job (restartable or ephemeral)|Stops at the funded edge|`Suspended`, `Funded=False`|Automatically; ephemeral Jobs restart from the start|
|Job at `maxCostUSD`|Checkpoints, then stops|`Suspended`, reason `MaxCostReached`|When you raise `maxCostUSD`|
|Distributed Job|Every node checkpoints together, then all stop|`Suspended`, `Funded=False`|Automatically, with all nodes funded|
|Sandbox|Snapshots its filesystem and state, then stops|`Stopped`, `stopReason: InsufficientCredits`; `spec.state` stays `Running`|On the next exec or connect once funded|
|Workspace|Saves the home volume, then stops|`Stopped` with the money reason|On `nodus start`, SSH connect or the schedule once funded|
|AgentRun|Finishes or interrupts the current step|`Waiting` for funds|Automatically|
|Agent idle workers|Scale to zero|`Funded=False` on the Agent|Automatically|
|Function|Stops taking calls, finishes in-flight calls, scales to zero|New calls queue with `Funded=False`|Automatically|
|TrainingJob|Its Jobs suspend; grading Sandboxes are deleted|`Suspended`|Automatically|
|Image build|The build stops|Image `Pending`, `Funded=False`|Automatically rebuilds|
|Volume import or export|The transfer stops|`ImportFailed(InsufficientCredits)`|`nodus request reimport volume/<name>`|
|Inference|New requests return an OpenAI- or Anthropic-shaped `402`; in-flight requests finish|—|Immediately|

Nodus never changes the `spec.state` you set. It records the stop in the object’s phase and `Funded` condition, emits `FundingLost`, and emits `FundingRestored` when it resumes. You get at most one email an hour listing stopped work.

## Getting going again

Terminal window

```bash
nodus billing top-up 20
nodus get jobs --watch
```

A top-up resumes waiting work oldest first, as each hold fits. Work stopped by a Budget resumes when you raise the Budget’s limit, switch it to `Notify`, delete it or the next month starts; work stopped at `maxCostUSD` resumes when you raise the cap.