Which workflow nodes use up AI credit

Most workflow nodes (send message, add tag, wait, simple conditions) are free and have no usage limit of their own. But a handful of nodes call a language model on every run, and therefore draw from your AI credit — the same balance your AI agents use to reply to or classify conversations.

Nodes that use AI credit

• AI Respond (ai_respond): has an AI agent reply to the customer right at that point in the workflow, either automatically or guided by a specific prompt. Available from the Escala (Advanced) plan up.
• AI Classify (ai_classify): asks a model to classify the customer's last message into one of the categories you define, then routes the workflow down the matching branch — perfect for triaging Sales / Support / Renewals.
• Detect Language, only if you enable "Classify text with AI (has a cost)": by default it detects language for free via channel data/heuristics; turning this on uses AI on the last message's text instead (more accurate, but not free).

Configuration

On the Detect Language node you'll see a "Use AI for text" toggle — off (heuristic, free) by default. On AI Respond and AI Classify you choose which AI agent (and therefore which model) the node uses.

Example

A welcome workflow uses AI Classify to route the first message into Sales / Support / Renewals. Every time the workflow runs, that classification draws a bit of AI credit — the same as if an AI agent had answered a message.

Tips

• If your volume is high, leave Detect Language on heuristic mode (free) unless you truly need free-text detection.
• Check your AI credit balance under Settings → Billing before turning these nodes on in high-volume workflows.
• These paid nodes respect the same cap and 80%-usage warning as the rest of your plan's AI features.

Troubleshooting

• If the workflow stalls or the node returns an "insufficient credit" error, check your AI credit balance under Billing — it may have run out before the cycle renewed.
• The AI Respond node won't show as available if your plan is below Escala/Advanced — you need to upgrade to use it.