Overage lane

Status: bun LIFEOS/TOOLS/Overage.ts status · optional

What it does

The two top lanes, Astra (OpenAI) and Fable (Anthropic), normally run on your subscriptions. When a plan window caps out, that work stops. The overage lane is an emergency road around the cap: you can arm a pay-per-token continuation, and every billed call is recorded in dollars against a monthly ceiling.

It is built to be hard to turn on by accident:

• It is off by default. Arming belongs to one session, records a reason and expires on its own (four hours unless you say otherwise).
• Only an interactive session can arm it. Scheduled and headless jobs are refused.
• One monthly ceiling covers both vendors. At the ceiling the lane refuses even while armed.
• It is for a capped window, never a cheaper way to do routine work.

You can skip this system entirely. With no keys and no arm, nothing ever bills the API.

Fill in

LIFEOS/USER/CONFIG/overage.json has one setting:

{ "ceilingUsd": 0 }

ceilingUsd is the monthly ceiling in US dollars across both vendors. 0 or a missing file uses the built-in default of 1000. That default is high for most people, so set your own number, for example { "ceilingUsd": 100 }.

Accounts and secrets

Each lane bills a different vendor and needs its own pay-per-token API key in ~/.claude/.env:

Lane	Key name	Where to create it
Astra (OpenAI)	OPENAI_API_KEY_OPTIN	platform.openai.com/api-keys
Fable (Anthropic)	ANTHROPIC_API_KEY	platform.claude.com/settings/keys

A lane with no key refuses by name and never falls back to the subscription. After you add a key, run bun LIFEOS/TOOLS/Secrets.ts seal, and check it without printing it:

bun LIFEOS/TOOLS/Secrets.ts has OPENAI_API_KEY_OPTIN ANTHROPIC_API_KEY   # one "yes" or "no" per key

Arming is a decision you make per session, not a setting. When a window has capped and you want the lane, tell your assistant to arm it, or run the command yourself in an interactive session:

bun LIFEOS/TOOLS/Overage.ts arm --session <id> --reason "<why>" [--minutes 240]
bun LIFEOS/TOOLS/Overage.ts disarm

Prove it works

bun LIFEOS/TOOLS/Overage.ts status                       # armed or disarmed, spend against the ceiling, billed calls
bun LIFEOS/TOOLS/Overage.ts check --session <id>         # exit 0 only when a call may bill

A healthy fresh install prints emergency API lane: disarmed and a line like $0.00 of $1,000 · $1,000 left. check exits 1 with REFUSED: the emergency API lane is not armed until you arm it; that refusal is the correct state. The same numbers show on Pulse /usage and on the status line’s money row.

The only check that bills is a live call after arming, and it is the smallest one the tool can make:

bun LIFEOS/TOOLS/ApiLane.ts astra --prompt "reply OK" --probe

Disarm when you are done.