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Three levers: session limits, monthly caps, and sampling.

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The short version

# Cap this session at $10
deepline session limit --dollars 10

# Cap your account at 10,000 credits/month
deepline billing --set-monthly-limit 10000

# Check what you've spent
deepline session usage
That’s it for most people. Keep reading if you want the details.

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Session limits

A session limit is a hard stop. Hit the limit, Deepline stops calling APIs. No warning. 
deepline session limit --dollars 10
Check where you stand: 
deepline session usage

{
  "session_id": "abc-123-def",
  "credits_used": 2.45,
  "cost_usd": 2.45,
  "dollar_limit": 10.0,
  "limit_reached": false
}
When limit_reached flips to true, you’re done. Clear it with deepline session limit --clear if you want to keep going. $10-20 is usually enough for exploratory work.

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Monthly caps

Protects you from runaway automation. Forgot a cron job? Monthly cap saves you. 
deepline billing --set-monthly-limit 10000
Check the state with deepline billing limit. Turn it off with deepline billing --off. When you hit the cap, all API calls stop until the next billing cycle. Account-wide, not per-session. User-level caps are coming. Right now it’s account-wide only.

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Automatic sampling

Deepline runs a sample before running your full list. Default behavior. The exploratory phase tests 2-5 rows depending on list size. Usually costs 10-20 cents. We’re checking what data is available, whether endpoints work with your input, and what quality looks like.
List sizeSample rowsTypical cost
Under 502 rows5-10 cents
50-5003 rows10-15 cents
500+5 rows15-20 cents
After the sample, you see results. Then you decide whether to continue. Skip sampling with --all if you know what you’re doing. Or pick your own sample size: 
# First 10 rows only
deepline enrich --input leads.csv --output enriched.csv --rows 0:10 --with '...'

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Why estimates look high

Estimates show worst-case. An estimate might say 50whenactualcostis50 when actual cost is 5. Waterfalls short-circuit when a provider returns valid data. Most providers only charge on hits. Validation catches bad data early. The estimate assumes everything fails and retries. That rarely happens. We err conservative so you never overspend unexpectedly. These estimates get better over time. See an estimate that doesn’t match reality? Run deepline session send --current-session to send us the session data. We use it to calibrate.

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Running your first enrichment

Set a limit: 
deepline session limit --dollars 10
Check your balance: 
deepline billing balance
Run the default sample (2-5 rows): 
deepline enrich --input leads.csv --output enriched.csv \
  --with '{"alias":"email","tool":"name_and_domain_to_email_waterfall","payload":{"first_name":"{{first_name}}","last_name":"{{last_name}}","domain":"{{domain}}"}}'
Look at the results. Check what you spent with deepline session usage. If the sample looks good: 
deepline enrich --input leads.csv --output enriched.csv --all \
  --with '{"alias":"email","tool":"name_and_domain_to_email_waterfall","payload":{"first_name":"{{first_name}}","last_name":"{{last_name}}","domain":"{{domain}}"}}'

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Large lists (1000+ rows)

Start with 10 rows: 
deepline enrich --input leads.csv --output enriched.csv --rows 0:10 --with '...'
Check per-row cost. Multiply by total rows. Set your limit slightly above that, then run full.

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Monitoring

# This session
deepline session usage

# Account balance
deepline billing balance

# Monthly limit state
deepline billing limit

# Recent calls
deepline billing usage --limit 50

# Export to CSV
deepline billing history --time 1m --output usage.csv

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FAQ

How do I set a spending limit? deepline session limit --dollars N for per-session. deepline billing --set-monthly-limit N for monthly. What happens when I hit my limit? API calls stop. Session limits you can clear and continue. Monthly caps you wait until next cycle. Why is my estimate way higher than actual cost? Estimates are worst-case. They assume every provider charges you and every validation fails. Actual costs are lower because waterfalls stop when they find valid data. How do I check spending? deepline session usage for this session. deepline billing balance for account total.