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How to set spend caps that are technically enforced

Step-by-step: configure a monthly spend cap in Manera that the platform cannot bill you over. Three minutes.

For: FinOps lead, CFO, procurement

01

Sign in to your billing account

Visit /billing/auto-recharge?email=. You'll see your current month-to-date spend + the existing cap (default: no cap).

02

Set a monthly cap in dollars

Enter a hard ceiling — e.g., $1,500/mo. Save. The cap is now stored in your customer record + propagated to shared/usage_governor.py across every flagship.

03

How the cap is enforced (technical, not promised)

Each AI inference call hits shared/usage_governor.governed_create() before reaching Anthropic. The governor checks your month-to-date cost against the cap. If the call would breach the cap, it's blocked at the API layer — Manera literally cannot charge you over your cap.

04

What happens when you hit the cap

Your sub-app pauses (HTTP 402 Payment Required) and emails you with a usage breakdown. You can either lift the cap, wait for the next billing cycle, or top up via /credit/add.

05

How to verify

Set a tiny cap ($5/mo) on a test account, run queries, and watch them block at $5. We've published the governor source at /api/openapi.merged.json under the usage namespace.

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