Get started
The in-app three-step checklist, what your workspace already has, and the happy path from signup to first rule.
Get started is the page you land on right after signing up, and it stays in the sidebar forever — it never retires, even once every step is ticked, because your connection details live on it.
What it's for
Three steps take you from a brand-new account to an app whose spend you can see and cap. Order is a suggestion, not a gate: nothing is greyed out, and the tick is the truth.
What signup already gave you
| Thing | What you get |
|---|---|
| Workspace | One, named after you, on the Free plan. You are its admin. |
| Project | One, called Default Project, environment Development. |
| Loop rules | Three, already watching every agent run — exact prompt repeat, a 25-call per-run cap, and a $5 per-run cost cap. All three are notify only: they alert you and never stop a call. |
| API key | None. Keys are shown once and only a scrambled copy is stored, so one nobody ever saw would be useless. You create the first one yourself. |
| Notification channels | None. |
The three steps
| Step | What it asks | Ticks when |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Create your API key | One click, on this page. | The project has a live API key. |
| 2. Add TokenPolice to your app, then run it | Install the SDK — the page hands you the skill install commands (Claude Code, and npx skills add for Cursor, Copilot, Codex and Antigravity), and links to the manual Node and Python quickstarts. | Your workspace has reported at least one call. |
| 3. Set your first budget and spending rule | Opens the rule template gallery. | The workspace has at least one non-loop firewall rule. |
Step 2 is the only one that touches your code, and the page is explicit about what it changes: "Nothing your users see changes. TokenPolice reports what each call costs — it doesn't stop anything, and it never starts stopping calls on its own."
Your connection details
A permanent panel at the bottom holds the two values your app needs, as a copyable .env block:
TOKENPOLICE_API_KEY=tp_sk_...
TOKENPOLICE_BASE_URL=https://collect.tokenpolice.aiRight after you create a key, the plaintext appears here — "Copy the key somewhere safe now — this is the only time we can show it." Come back later and the key row shows a masked value with no copy button, because we never stored the original. If you've lost it, Replace it issues a new one and revokes the old.
What to look for
- Step 2 never ticks — the SDK isn't reaching us. Check the two environment variables above, then Nothing in the dashboard.
- Steps ticked but the dashboard is empty — your app reported, but the range is too narrow. Widen the time range on the Overview.
- You're a viewer, not an admin — steps 1 and 3 tell you to ask an admin. Only admins create keys and rules.