---
title: "Guide: Connect xAI billing"
canonical_url: "https://tokenobserve.com/guides/connect-xai-billing"
published: 2026-10-15
last_updated: 2026-10-15
---

# Guide: Connect xAI billing

The question: How do I connect xAI billing to Token Observe?

## The answer, in one paragraph

Use the Management API key with billing access for the billing connection in your cloud workspace. Check collection status and the source period before treating any figure as reported spend. Model calls use a separate inference key.

## Facts

- Reporting credential: Management API key with billing access
- Evidence basis: Provider-reported costs, with currency and daily periods
- Automatic collection: Scheduler checks every 15 minutes; normally no more often than every six hours
- Trial: 30 days from workspace creation; no card or automatic paid conversion

## The limit

Check the scope: A complete retrieval does not make the provider bill final or recover historical conversations.

### Prepare the reporting access

Create a separate xAI Management API key with access to the intended team billing report. Record that team’s UUID as teamId. Supply both the management key and teamId; an inference API key is a different credential.

Create and confirm your Token Observe account, sign in and create a workspace. In Connect billing, choose the provider, give the connection a useful name and enter its reporting credential. Enter credentials only in the hosted portal’s masked field, never in a chat, worksheet or support message.

### Collect and inspect the source

Choose Connect and collect costs. A saved credential can still have a failed or partial collection. Open Coverage details and check source status, reporting window, last successful collection and any reason for incomplete evidence. Use Collect latest 30 days after fixing permissions or configuration.

The connector reads the xAI Management API team usage report in daily USD buckets. It retains the team and description. SuperGrok subscriptions and prepaid balances or top-ups are separate from reported API usage cost.

### Keep the evidence usable

Compare usage cost with usage cost. A credit purchase or prepaid top-up is a funding movement, not another copy of the same API usage. Keep its evidence separately when reconciling settlement.

The collectors bound a run to 31 completed UTC days, 20 requests or pages and 10,000 rows. A partial or failed collection keeps previous evidence with its status. Missing evidence remains unknown. One billing connection per provider per workspace prevents overlapping account connections.

To replace a credential, choose Rotate credential and confirm it accesses the same account. Changing accounts requires disconnecting first; disconnecting removes that connection’s retained costs. Scheduled collection stops when the trial expires. Retained authorized reads and exports remain subject to the shared traffic quota.

## Resources

- Start with a cloud workspace: https://tokenobserve.com/get-started
- Check billed and metered variance: https://tokenobserve.com/guides/reconcile-ai-provider-spend

## The capabilities behind this

- https://tokenobserve.com/platform/estate-spend
- https://tokenobserve.com/platform/conversation-evidence

## Questions and answers

Q: Does billing setup give agents a model key?
A: No. Billing credentials read reports. Optional model calls need a separate inference key plus a workspace-issued agent identity, permissions and gateway credential.

Q: Can I upload an invoice instead?
A: The workspace has an existing invoice-import path, but the new cloud portal does not provide its own CSV upload or automatic synchronization of those imports. Ask for setup help if your plan does not expose the supported reporting source.