> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.agentcard.sh/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Cards

> How personal virtual cards work

A card is a virtual Visa your agent can use to make purchases. Cards are single-use by default: they close on their own after the first approved charge. Each card you create is funded from your cash balance and only charged when the card is actually used.

## Lifecycle

1. **Create** — You issue a card with a spend limit (within your plan's per-card cap). The amount is reserved from your balance's spending power.
2. **Use** — Your agent makes purchases with the card number, expiry, and CVV — entered at checkout, or end to end through the [`buy`](/personal/shopping) surface. Funds are captured only as transactions settle.
3. **Close** — Closing a card is permanent and returns any unspent funds to your balance.

## Card types

Cards come in two types, chosen at creation with the `type` parameter:

|             | Single-use (default)                                 | Multi-use                                                       |
| ----------- | ---------------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Charges     | One: the card closes after its first approved charge | Any number, until the total limit is spent                      |
| Best for    | One-off purchases                                    | Subscriptions and recurring merchants                           |
| Spend limit | Fixed at creation                                    | Adjustable while the card is open                               |
| Closes      | Automatically after the purchase                     | When the limit is exhausted, its expiry passes, or you close it |

Create a multi-use card by passing `type: "multi_use"`. You can give it an expiry with `expires_at` (an ISO-8601 timestamp with timezone, in the future, at most 365 days out); when the expiry passes, the card closes and any unspent funds return to your balance.

While a multi-use card is open, you can manage it:

* **Pause and resume**. Pausing blocks new charges immediately and is fully reversible; the balance and limit are untouched, and the reserved funds stay reserved. A paused card still counts toward your active multi-use card cap.
* **Change the total limit**. Raising the limit reserves the difference from your balance's spending power, and fails with `insufficient_collateral` if the balance cannot cover it; lowering it releases the difference back. The limit can never go below what the card has already spent.

### Active multi-use cards per plan

Your plan caps how many multi-use cards you can have active (open or paused) at once:

| Plan  | Active multi-use cards |
| ----- | ---------------------- |
| Free  | 0                      |
| Basic | 2                      |
| Pro   | 10                     |

Closing a card frees its slot immediately. Cards issued through a company connection are governed by the organization, not your personal plan; they have no active-card cap.

### AI cards

An AI card is a multi-use card locked to AI-lab merchants (OpenAI, Anthropic, Gemini). Create one by passing `scope_preset: "ai_labs"`; the preset implies `type: "multi_use"`, so you don't need to pass both.

The restriction is enforced when a charge is authorized, based on the merchant's category: charges outside the allowed categories decline, and refunds are always allowed. AI cards earn boosted [tokenback](/personal/concepts/rewards) on eligible AI-lab spend, and you can have up to 10 active AI cards at a time.

AI cards are available everywhere cards are created: MCP (`create_card` with `scope_preset`), the CLI (`agent-cards cards create --preset ai_labs`), and the API (`scope_preset` on card creation).

## Properties

* **Spend limit** — The cap set when you create the card (adjustable later on a multi-use card); your agent can never spend more than this.
* **Balance** — The remaining amount as transactions settle. Check it with `get_card_balance` / `agent-cards balance <id>` without exposing the credentials.
* **Status** — `OPEN` while usable, `PAUSED` while a multi-use card is paused, `CLOSED` once closed.
* **Credentials (PAN / CVV / expiry)** — Revealed only on explicit request via `get_card_details` / `agent-cards cards details <id>`, which may require approval.

## Limits

The maximum amount per card depends on your plan:

| Plan  | Max per card | Cards / month |
| ----- | ------------ | ------------- |
| Free  | \$50         | 5             |
| Basic | \$500        | 15            |
| Pro   | \$1,000      | 50            |

See [Plans](/personal/plans) to upgrade. [Test cards](/personal/concepts/test-mode) (from an organization's sandbox integration) don't count toward your monthly quota.

## One wallet across apps

You have one wallet, whatever app is looking at it. Cards you create from the dashboard, the CLI, or any connected app all live in it, and every connected app can see them, each card tagged with the app or company that minted it.

Seeing is not acting: an app can only manage the cards it minted itself. When a different app tries to act on one of your cards (view its full details, pause, resume, close, or change its limit), the action pauses and you get an **approve/deny email**. Nothing happens until you approve, and each approval covers exactly that one action. Cards issued by a company you're linked to stay read-only outside that company's own app.

## Safety

* Card numbers and CVVs are never displayed unless you explicitly ask.
* Closing a card is always confirmed first.
* Every card has a spend limit, so a card can never draw more from your balance than its current limit. Raising a multi-use card's limit reserves the difference from your balance up front.
* An app you connected can't act on cards another app minted without your emailed approval (above).