update-credits

Update remaining credit quotas on an API key using the Unkey CLI. Adjust usage limits for plan changes, billing cycles, or purchased credits.

Update credit quotas in response to plan changes, billing cycles, or usage purchases.

Use this for user upgrades/downgrades, monthly quota resets, credit purchases, or promotional bonuses. Supports three operations: set, increment, or decrement credits. Set to null for unlimited usage.

Important: Setting unlimited credits automatically clears existing refill configurations.

Required permissions:

Your root key must have one of the following permissions:

• api.*.update_key (to update keys in any API)
• api.<api_id>.update_key (to update keys in a specific API)

Side effects:

Credit updates remove the key from cache immediately. Setting credits to unlimited automatically clears any existing refill settings. Changes take effect instantly but may take up to 30 seconds to propagate to all regions.

See the API reference for the full HTTP endpoint documentation.

Usage

unkey api keys update-credits [flags]

Flags

--key-id · string · required

The ID of the key to update (begins with key_). This is the database reference ID for the key, not the actual API key string that users authenticate with. This ID uniquely identifies which key’s credits will be updated.

--operation · string · required

Defines how to modify the key’s remaining credits. Must be one of set, increment, or decrement. Use set to replace current credits with a specific value or unlimited usage, increment to add credits for plan upgrades or credit purchases, and decrement to reduce credits for refunds or policy violations.

--value · integer

The credit value to use with the specified operation. For set, this becomes the new remaining credits value. For increment, this amount is added to current credits. For decrement, this amount is subtracted from current credits.

Omit when using the set operation to make the key unlimited (removes usage restrictions entirely). When decrementing, if the result would be negative, remaining credits are automatically set to zero.

Required when using increment or decrement operations. Optional for set operation (omitting creates unlimited usage).

Global Flags

Flag	Type	Description
--root-key	string	Override root key ($UNKEY_ROOT_KEY)
--api-url	string	Override API base URL (default: https://api.unkey.com)
--config	string	Path to config file (default: ~/.unkey/config.toml)
--output	string	Output format. Use json for raw JSON
--body	string	Send this JSON string as the request body. You cannot combine it with request-building flags.

Examples

Set credits to a fixed value

unkey api keys update-credits --key-id=key_1234abcd --operation=set --value=1000

Output

Default output shows the request ID, followed by the updated credit data:

req_2c9a0jf23l4k567

{
  "remaining": 1000,
  "refill": {
    "interval": "monthly",
    "amount": 1000,
    "refillDay": 1
  }
}

With --output=json, the full response envelope is returned:

{
  "meta": {
    "requestId": "req_2c9a0jf23l4k567"
  },
  "data": {
    "remaining": 1000,
    "refill": {
      "interval": "monthly",
      "amount": 1000,
      "refillDay": 1
    }
  }
}