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Out of credits mid-campaign. What happens & how to fix it

You hit zero credits and operations start getting skipped. See exactly what pauses, what each action costs, and how to top up and get running again.

Tutorials
Billing & Credits
min read
4 min
steps
6 · Beginner

  1. Read the symptom: operations started getting skipped

    A campaign stalled, or you noticed operations getting skipped. You’ve hit zero credits: credit-consuming actions — AI drafting, lead finding, contact verification — can’t run without balance, so they skip or pause. Some non-AI actions still complete normally.

  2. What still works vs. what stops

    Imports still land, but the verification step is skipped — you’ll see an amber banner: “Contacts imported but not verified — insufficient credits.” AI email drafting and AI Leads sourcing both need credits, so at zero they can’t generate — which is often why a campaign goes quiet. See My campaign isn’t sending if that’s what you’re seeing.

  3. Understand what costs what

    Budget with the real numbers: AI Leads is 1 credit per lead found (as shown on the harvester screen) plus 0.2 credits per contact for cleaning; AI emails are 2 credits (Standard) or 8 credits (Premium); a manual email is 1 credit. The full authoritative per-action table lives in Understand credits & billing — check it if a number here looks off, since different screens in the app can show slightly different figures for the same action.

    Understand what costs what

  4. Top up

    Click the “Top up credits” link on the banner, or go to Billing → Buy top-up credits. Pick a quick amount ($50 / $100 / $250 / $500) or enter a custom amount (minimum $50, maximum $10,000) — $1 = 100 credits. Checkout completes through Dodo.

  5. Resume the skipped work

    Once credits land, re-run whatever skipped: re-verify the imported-but-unverified contacts (0.2 credits/contact), and confirm the campaign starts drafting and sending again.

  6. Prevent the next stall

    Turn on the low-credit alert in the Alerts center so you’re warned before hitting zero, and top up in advance of any big lead-sourcing run.

Pro tips

  • You don’t lose imported contacts

    Running out of credits doesn't lose your imported contacts: it just skips verifying them. Top up, then re-verify at 0.2 credits each.

  • Budget before big runs

    AI Leads costs roughly 1 credit per lead found plus 0.2 to clean each. Source 1,000 leads and your balance needs to match.

  • $1 = 100 credits, $50 minimum

    Buy a buffer so a mid-campaign zero never stalls your sends.

  • Turn on the low-credit alert

    Getting warned at a threshold beats discovering zero when a campaign goes silent.

Frequently asked questions

Why did my operations start getting skipped?

You hit zero credits. Credit-consuming actions (AI drafting, lead finding, verification) can’t run without balance, so they skip or pause until you top up.

Did I lose the contacts I imported?

No. Imports still complete at zero credits — only the verification step is skipped, shown as “imported but not verified.” Re-verify after topping up.

What does each action cost?

AI Leads is around 1 credit per lead found plus 0.2 per contact to clean; AI email is 2 (Standard) or 8 (Premium); manual email is 1; contact cleaning is 0.2 each. The full authoritative table is in the billing/credits tutorial.

How do I add credits?

Billing → Buy top-up credits. Choose $50/$100/$250/$500 or a custom amount ($50–$10,000). $1 = 100 credits. Payment goes through Dodo.

Is there a minimum top-up?

Yes, $50. The maximum is $10,000 per purchase.

Will my campaign auto-resume after I top up?

The skipped AI actions can run again once you have balance — re-check the campaign and re-verify any contacts that were skipped.

How do I avoid this next time?

Enable the low-credit alert and top up a buffer before large lead-sourcing runs.

Billing & Credits

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Install with AI

Your coding agent sets up the FirstSales CLI and skills for you.

Prompt for Claude Code

I'm setting up FirstSales (https://firstsales.io), an AI outbound sales platform: campaigns, contacts, a reply inbox, deliverability and lead signals. Help me get my workspace sending real, good emails end to end, from Claude Code.

Read these first so you know how FirstSales works:
- Developer docs and API: https://developer.firstsales.io
- CLI: https://www.npmjs.com/package/@firstsales.io/cli
- Skills for coding agents: https://github.com/firstsalesio/firstsales-skills (read README.md and GUIDE.md)

Setup
1. Install the CLI: npm install -g @firstsales.io/cli
2. Install the FirstSales skills:
   claude plugin marketplace add firstsalesio/firstsales-skills
   claude plugin install firstsales@firstsales
3. Ask me if I already have a FirstSales account. If not, send me to https://app.firstsales.io to sign up.
4. Ask me to create an API key under Settings → API → API Keys, with only the scopes we need.
   Never ask me to paste the key into this chat. Tell me to run this in my own terminal, so the key stays hidden:
   read -rs FS_KEY && firstsales auth login --api-key "$FS_KEY"; unset FS_KEY
5. Run `firstsales whoami` and tell me which workspace and organisation we are connected to.

Then ask me about my business: what I sell, who I sell to (roles, company size, countries), my best customers, and what I use today for outbound (tools, lists, mailboxes). Walk me through:
1. Teaching FirstSales my business: website, offer, proof points and case studies in the knowledge base, so the AI writes like someone who knows the product.
2. Connecting my sending mailboxes and checking my sending domain: SPF, DKIM, DMARC and warm-up. If anything is unhealthy, tell me the exact DNS record to add.
3. Bringing in contacts: import my CSV or CRM export into a clean list, remove duplicates and bad emails, and block domains I must never email (customers, competitors, my own).
4. Building my first campaign: the right list, senders, steps and timing. Write the sequence with me, show me the drafts, and do not launch until I say yes.
5. Setting up Signals if it fits: find people engaging with LinkedIn posts about topics my buyers care about, and turn them into leads.
6. Inviting my team and giving each person the right access.

Once campaigns run, show me how to work the reply inbox from here: which replies need an answer, draft responses in my voice, and move good conversations into deals. If I use Cal.com, connect it so follow-ups can offer my booking link (not the first email).

Throughout, as you learn about my business, proactively suggest and help create:
- Reply templates for the questions and objections my prospects are likely to raise, based on my product, site and codebase if you can see them.
- Campaign ideas and segments worth testing, with the reason for each.

Safety rules:
- Show every change as a dry run (--dry-run) first and wait for my yes. Never send emails, launch campaigns or delete anything without my yes.
- Tell me before anything that spends credits, and how many.

Be opinionated. If the docs give a sensible default, just use it. Don't make me choose between five options.
Developer docs ↗npm: @firstsales.io/cli ↗GitHub: firstsales-skills ↗