# Add usage credits to a Bolt app (Vite, BuildBase sign-in)

One prompt that gives each workspace in a Bolt.new app a credit balance, a Buy credits button and a server-side spend, plus where the secret lives.

Bolt can also connect to BuildBase itself while it builds: [Use BuildBase in Bolt](/console/ai-agents/bolt).

Each workspace gets a credit balance, a **Buy credits** button that opens the credit store, and a spend that runs in a function on your host, so a person cannot skip it from the browser. This page assumes the app already signs people in with @buildbase/sdk, as the [Bolt guide](https://www.buildbase.app/guides/add-login-teams-and-paid-plans-to-a-bolt-app) sets up. If it signs people in with something else, such as Supabase or Clerk, read [keep your existing sign-in](/sign-in-setup/keep-your-sign-in) first.

> **Note:**
  Stripe connected and a credit package on sale in the console, under
  **Billing** > **Credit packages** ([Credits and usage](/credits/overview)).

## The prompt

Bolt's help center documents no link that opens Bolt with a prompt filled in, so copy this into your project's chat.

```text
This app signs people in with BuildBase (@buildbase/sdk), set up as https://www.buildbase.app/guides/add-login-teams-and-paid-plans-to-a-bolt-app shows. If it does not, stop and tell me.
Read https://docs.buildbase.app/credits/overview.md first and do not invent endpoints.
Add usage credits per workspace:
- In the header, show useCreditBalance(currentWorkspace._id).balance?.available, with currentWorkspace from useSaaSWorkspaces(), and a Buy credits button that calls openCreditStore() from useSaaSAuth().
- Spend on the server only: add api/credits/spend.ts as a function file like the guide's api/auth files, answered in the preview by the same Vite middleware. It calls bbFor(request).credits.consume(workspaceId, { amount, description, idempotencyKey }) from server/buildbase.ts before the paid work runs. On the error code INSUFFICIENT_CREDITS answer 402, and open the credit store in the page.
Do not store balances in Bolt Cloud or Supabase.
```

## Where the secrets go

This job adds no new secret. The spend uses the signed-in person's session cookie, `bb-session-id`. `BUILDBASE_CLIENT_SECRET` stays where the guide put it: in `.env` while you build, with `.env` listed in `.gitignore`, and in your host's environment variables for the live site (Bolt's Secrets page if Bolt hosts the functions). Never give it a `VITE_` prefix. Your Stripe keys go into the BuildBase console, not into Bolt.

## The Bolt trap

The preview answers `/api/credits/spend` through the Vite dev server in your tab; the live site answers it only where your functions run. A spend that works in the preview and returns the app's HTML after publishing means the host has no function for it. Open the address on the live site: it should answer JSON, even an error.

Make the change in Bolt, not in GitHub: Bolt's docs say that when the two conflict, Bolt keeps its version and overwrites GitHub's.

## Full guides

- [Add login, teams and paid plans to a Bolt.new app](https://www.buildbase.app/guides/add-login-teams-and-paid-plans-to-a-bolt-app)
- [Credits and usage](/credits/overview): reserve and settle, auto top-up, a person's own wallet
- [Add BuildBase to Bolt's knowledge or skills](/ai-builders/bolt-import)