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New in v3.
Tomdacat Code supports two independent ways to pay for model usage. Neither is the “real” one — both are first-class, you can configure both at once, and the Account section at the top of Settings switches which one is active any time. The Auth Choice onboarding screen: Use my own API key vs Coding Plan

Use my own API key

“Pay-as-you-go credits across every model. Bring a tdc_ key from your TomdacatAI dashboard.” — the exact copy on the Auth Choice screen. The original v1 model: create a key at ai.tomdacat.com, paste it in, and every response is metered against your credit balance. Button: Connect API key.

Coding Plan

“Flat monthly Robux subscription with a fixed model set and rolling token allowances. Bring a tdcc_ key.” Authenticated against a separate /code/v1/* API — no per-token pricing, just a subscription tier with usage limits. Button: Connect Coding Plan.

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How Coding Plan differs from an API key

The Account section at the top of Settings, showing a Coding Plan usage card with session, weekly, and premium-model progress bars
  • Models show a PREMIUM pill, not a price. Since usage isn’t metered per token, the model dropdown marks the strongest models as premium instead of listing a cost per million tokens.
  • Usage is three rolling windows, not a credit counter. Settings shows progress bars for your session window, your weekly window, and a separate, smaller premium-model window — since premium models draw down a stricter weekly allowance than the rest of the catalog.
  • Budget Mode auto-enables on Lite and Starter tiers. Lower Coding Plan tiers turn on Budget Mode by default to keep the fixed per-turn token cost down; higher tiers and API-key accounts leave it off by default, and everyone can flip it either way in Settings regardless.
  • Key verification is one round trip. A Coding Plan key is checked with a single call that returns validity, plan tier, and current usage together, instead of a separate ping-then-fetch.

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Switching between them

Both key types can be configured at the same time. The Account section at the top of Settings (there’s no separate Account page — it’s the first thing you see when Settings opens) has a segmented switch between API usage and Coding Plan — selecting a mode you haven’t configured yet routes you to that mode’s setup screen instead of just failing silently. Switching modes takes effect on your very next message; there’s no restart involved.
Don’t paste an API key into the Coding Plan field or vice versa — they’re verified against different endpoints and neither will validate the other’s key format (tdcc_ prefix on Coding Plan keys marks the difference at a glance).

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Keeping your key safe

Both key types are credentials, treated identically: stored via plugin:SetSetting (Studio’s own per-user settings store), never logged, and never sent anywhere except ai.tomdacat.com. See Installation for the first-run setup flow for either option.