Budgets

Budgets let organization administrators track AI model spend against monthly amounts they set. Set a warning amount in US dollars, and Kindo emails every administrator in your organization when spend for the month reaches it.

Budgets currently send alerts only: reaching a warning amount does not stop, slow, or change any runs. Blocking spend at a limit will be added shortly.

How Budgets Work

Budget type	What it tracks
Agent budgets	The spend of one agent your organization owns.

Each budget has an amount that Kindo compares with its spend for the month:

Amount	When spend reaches it
Warning at	Kindo emails every organization administrator. Runs continue as usual.

Spend Checks

Kindo checks spend against warning amounts about every 2 minutes, not after each model request. An alert can therefore arrive a few minutes after spend reaches a warning amount. Runs keep adding spend in the meantime, so spend may already be above the amount when the email arrives.

If you save a warning amount that spend has already reached, the alert is sent at the next check, unless the budget already alerted at that amount this month (see One Alert per Amount).

Defaults and Own Amounts

Each budget type has a default that applies to everything of that type without its own amount, so one setting covers them all and you adjust only the exceptions.

Setting	Meaning
Default warning at	The warning amount for everything of that type without its own. There is no default until you set one.
Own amount	A warning amount set on a single budget, such as one agent. It replaces the default and can be higher or lower.
No limit	No warning amount. It never alerts, even when a default is set.

Monthly Window

Spend accumulates over the calendar month and resets on the 1st of each month (UTC). Warning amounts apply to each month separately, so a budget that alerted last month can alert again this month.

One Alert per Amount

A budget alerts once for each warning amount each month. If you change the amount, higher or lower, the budget can alert again when spend reaches the new amount. Setting it back to an amount it already alerted at this month does not send another alert. Neither does switching between the budget’s own amount and a default of the same amount.

What Counts as Spend

Spend is the cost of AI model usage, in US dollars. It is measured separately from your organization’s Kindo credit balance.

Spend counts usage of Kindo-provided models. Usage of self-managed models is not included currently, but will be added shortly.

Agent Spend

An agent’s spend includes the model requests it makes while it runs and in conversations with the agent. Background requests made on an agent’s behalf do not count, such as generating its title and description, helping build it in the agent builder, or checking whether a trigger should run it.

The Budgeting Tab

In Kindo, select Command Center.
Select the Budgeting tab.

The Budgeting tab is visible only to organization administrators. Other users do not see budgets or spend amounts.

The tab has a panel for each budget type. Every panel has a Default warning at field and these columns:

Column	What it shows
Spend	Spend this month. When a warning amount is set, a bar shows spend against it and changes color once spend reaches it. Spend is recalculated about every 2 minutes; Calculating spend appears until the first calculation finishes.
Warning at	The row’s warning amount, which you can edit in place. A row using the default shows the default with (Default), for example `$1,000 (Default)`, or No limit (Default) when no default is set.

Use the tabs above the table to narrow the list:

Tab	Rows shown
All agents	Every row.
No budget	Rows with no warning amount, either their own or from the default.
Warn threshold	Rows with a warning amount, either their own or from the default.

Search by name, and sort by name, spend, or warning amount. The list is sorted by spend, highest first, when you open it.

Set a Default Warning Amount

In Default warning at, enter an amount in US dollars.
Press Enter or select outside the field.
Review the confirmation and select Save.

Every row without its own amount then warns at the default. Any of those that have already reached the default amount this month trigger an alert email within a few minutes, unless one was already sent for that amount (see Spend Checks).

To remove the default, select the X in Default warning at. Rows that were using the default then have no warning amount.

Set a Warning Amount

Enter an amount in a row’s Warning at field, then press Enter or select outside the field. The amount saves as soon as you leave the field.

If spend this month has already reached that amount, Kindo shows Spend already reaches this amount before saving. Select Set anyway to save it. An alert email follows within a few minutes, unless one was already sent for that amount (see Spend Checks).

To set No limit, select the X in the row’s Warning at field, or clear the field. The field shows No limit in red, and the row never alerts, even when a default is set. To return it to the default, select the reset icon that replaces the X.

Update Several Rows at Once

Select the checkboxes next to the rows you want to change. Once the whole list has loaded (scroll to the end), you can also select the checkbox in the header to select every row in the list.
In the bar above the table, choose one:
- Enter an amount in Warning at and select Update. If any selected row has already reached the new amount, Kindo asks for confirmation first: select Set anyway to save, or cancel to leave the rows, the selection, and the amount as they were.
- Select Set no limit to give every selected row No limit.
- Select Reset to default to remove the rows’ own amounts so they use the default.

A change applies only to the selected rows the table shows. Once it is saved, those rows are unchecked. Selected rows hidden by a tab, search, or filter are not changed and stay selected. To clear the selection without making a change, select Clear in the bar.

You can change up to 1,000 rows at once; with more selected, Update, Set no limit, and Reset to default are disabled. A change applies to every selected row or to none of them: if a selected agent was deleted after the list loaded, nothing changes, Kindo shows an error, the selection stays, and the list refreshes without that agent.

Agent Budgets

The Budgeting For Agents panel lists every agent your organization owns. Along with Spend and Warning at, it shows:

Column	What it shows
Agent name	The agent. Select the name to open the agent in the agent builder, or hover over the info icon to read its description.
Creator	The email address of the user who created the agent. Filter the list with Creator.

Agents shared with your organization from another organization do not appear in the panel.

Alert Emails

When spend for the month reaches a budget’s warning amount, Kindo emails every administrator in your organization. Each administrator receives a separate email, usually within a few minutes of the spend being recorded, because spend is checked about every 2 minutes (see Spend Checks).

The email subject is Kindo spend limit warning: followed by the budget’s name. The email contains:

Spend limit: the name of the agent that reached its warning amount.
Agent created by: on agent alerts, the name and email address of the agent’s creator.
Warning threshold: the warning amount.
Spend to date: the spend this month when it reached the amount.
Current window ends: the last day of the month, after which spend resets.

Each budget alerts once per warning amount each month (see One Alert per Amount). Alert emails need no setup and cannot be turned off per administrator.

Audit Log

Budget activity appears in the audit log:

Event	Recorded when
Spend Limit Created, Spend Limit Updated, Spend Limit Deleted	An administrator sets, changes, or removes a warning amount, including a default.
Spend Limit Alert Triggered	Spend reaches a warning amount.
Spend Limit Alert Email Sent	An alert email is sent to an administrator, one event per recipient.

Troubleshooting

Problem	What to check
The Budgeting tab does not appear	Budgets are in beta and enabled per organization, and the tab is visible only to organization administrators. Contact your Kindo account team to request access.
An agent is missing from the list	The list shows agents your organization owns. Agents shared with your organization from another organization do not appear.
No alert email arrived	Check that Spend has reached the warning amount; spend is recalculated about every 2 minutes (see Spend Checks). Check your spam folder, and look for Spend Limit Alert Triggered in the audit log. A budget alerts once per amount each month (see One Alert per Amount).
An alert arrived soon after setting an amount	Spend had already reached that amount this month, including when a row was returned to a default it had already reached.
An agent’s spend is lower than expected	Only the agent’s own model requests on Kindo-provided models count. See Agent Spend.