--- title: How to Manage Action Gateway Prepayment (public) description: Fund Action Gateway tools that require prepayment and understand what happens when your prepaid balances reach $0. product: Managed Agents url: https://docs.digitalocean.com/products/managed-agents/action-gateway/how-to/manage-ag-prepayment/ last_updated: "2026-10-01" --- > **For AI agents:** The documentation index is at [https://docs.digitalocean.com/llms.txt](https://docs.digitalocean.com/llms.txt). Markdown versions of pages use the same URL with `index.html.md` in place of the HTML page (for example, append `index.html.md` to the directory path instead of opening the HTML document). # How to Manage Action Gateway Prepayment (public) Action Gateway connects applications and AI agents to tools through a managed MCP endpoint or SDK, with the accounts and permissions you choose. See [What You Can Build](https://docs.digitalocean.com/products/managed-agents/action-gateway/details/what-you-can-build/index.html.md) for standalone agent examples. Some Action Gateway tools, including Exa web search and web fetch, require funds in at least one balance: an Agent Droplets subscription balance, promotional credits, the Inference and Agents balance, or your account prepayment balance. Prepayment is not required for every tool. DigitalOcean deducts usage charges for tools that require prepayment as you incur them. For details, see [How Your Prepaid Balances Are Shared](#shared-balance). Prepayment requirements are separate from [tool-call pricing](https://docs.digitalocean.com/products/managed-agents/action-gateway/details/pricing/index.html.md). Tools that do not require prepayment still incur their applicable tool-call charges. When all your balances are empty: - Action Gateway blocks calls to tools that require prepayment, including Exa web search and web fetch. This applies to standalone Action Gateway sessions and tools attached to Harness Runtime agents. Tools that do not require prepayment are not blocked by the gateway’s balance check. - If you use Action Gateway from a Harness Runtime session, that session pauses for low balance, regardless of which tools it uses. After you add funds, calls to tools that require prepayment are unblocked automatically. To add funds or enable auto-reload, see [Inference and Agents Balance](https://docs.digitalocean.com/platform/billing/pay-bills/index.html.md#inference-agents-balance). You can also view your balances on [the **Billing** page](https://cloud.digitalocean.com/account/billing) and [make an account prepayment](https://docs.digitalocean.com/platform/billing/pay-bills/index.html.md#now). ## How Your Prepaid Balances Are Shared [Serverless Inference](https://docs.digitalocean.com/products/inference/how-to/si-overview/index.html.md), [Harness Runtime](https://docs.digitalocean.com/products/managed-agents/agent-harness-runtime/index.html.md), and the [Action Gateway](https://docs.digitalocean.com/products/managed-agents/action-gateway/index.html.md) tools that require prepayment can draw from two prepaid balances on your team: - The **Inference and Agents balance**, which only Serverless Inference and Managed Agents draw from. Charges from other products never reduce it. - The **account prepayment balance**, which applies to your entire account (your current team). Usage charges from all DigitalOcean products, such as Droplets or Managed Databases, draw from it. Usage draws from your credits and balances in this order: 1. Your Agent Droplets subscription balance, if you subscribe to a plan. It covers your Managed Agents usage. Eligible usage is billed at discounted rates, and other Managed Agents usage, such as third-party models, is billed at standard rates. After the subscription balance is used, all further usage bills at standard rates. 2. Promotional credits. 3. The Inference and Agents balance. 4. The account prepayment balance. New customers receive a $5 promotional credit for Managed Agents usage. Without a plan, the $5 credit is used first. With a plan, your subscription balance is used first, and the $5 credit is used after the subscription balance runs out. When the credit is gone, you can subscribe to a plan, add funds to the Inference and Agents balance, or use the account prepayment balance. Existing customers do not receive the $5 credit and can subscribe or add funds at any time. Promotional credits apply to Serverless Inference, Harness Runtime, and Action Gateway, so these products keep running while you have credits, even if both prepaid balances are at $0. An Agent Droplets subscription balance keeps Harness Runtime and Action Gateway running the same way, including managed agents making Serverless Inference calls. When your credits, subscription balance, and both prepaid balances are empty, DigitalOcean stops prepaid spend for these products until you add funds. Action Gateway tools that do not require prepayment are not blocked by the gateway’s balance check. Other products continue running as usual, even if their charges are what depleted the account prepayment balance. Those products keep accruing usage against your account. For example, if you add a $500 prepayment to your account: 1. You run Serverless Inference workloads that cost $100, leaving a balance of $400. 2. Your Droplets accrue $250 in usage charges, leaving a balance of $150. Only the remaining $150 is available for prepaid products. If charges from other products bring the account prepayment balance down to $0, DigitalOcean stops prepaid spend for those products until you add more funds, but your Droplets and other resources continue running without interruption. If you add the same $500 to your Inference and Agents balance instead, the $250 in Droplet charges bill on your monthly invoice, and $400 remains available for prepaid products. To keep a separate prepaid budget for these workloads, [add funds to your Inference and Agents balance](https://docs.digitalocean.com/platform/billing/pay-bills/index.html.md#add-funds). To avoid interruptions, [enable auto-reload](https://docs.digitalocean.com/platform/billing/pay-bills/index.html.md#auto-reload) to replenish the balance automatically. You can also [create a dedicated team](https://docs.digitalocean.com/platform/teams/how-to/create/index.html.md) for these workloads. Each team maintains its own prepaid balances, so charges from resources on your other teams do not draw them down. **Note**: Teams that belong to an [organization](https://docs.digitalocean.com/platform/organizations/index.html.md) draw from the organization’s Inference and Agents balance and account prepayment balance, which the organization funds. They do not support team-specific balances. To keep a separate balance, create a standalone team outside of your organization. For how Harness Runtime pauses sessions and what remains available at $0, see [How to Pay for Harness Runtime](https://docs.digitalocean.com/products/managed-agents/agent-harness-runtime/how-to/pay-for-harness-runtime/index.html.md#empty-balances).