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A phase is a dated set of rates on a rate card. It gives one or more entries a new model from its effective date. A published phase never changes, so the card keeps an exact history of every rate it has had and of when Alguna learned it. Use phases for every rate change: a price list update, a fee increase, or a fix to a wrong rate.

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Draft, publish, supersede

A phase starts as a draft. A draft has no date and bills nothing. You can change a draft or delete it. When you publish it, you give it its effective date and it becomes published. A published phase that a correction replaces becomes superseded. Each phase also has a number, in the order the phases were created. “Scheduled”, “live” and “ended” are not statuses. Alguna works them out from the dates. A published phase is scheduled before its effective date, live from that date until the next published phase starts, and ended after that. Each published phase records who published it. A person’s publish records the person. An automatic publish from a source, and a copy on a follower card, record the source.

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A phase sets only the entries it names

One phase can change any entries of the card at one date. An entry that the phase does not name keeps the model it had before the phase. So at every moment, every entry has exactly one model. Example: Token Standard has a usage entry and a platform fee. A phase from 16 Mar 2027 changes only the platform fee, from $500.00 to $600.00. The usage rates do not change on 16 Mar 2027, and no usage line splits on that date.

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Create and publish a phase

On the rate card, select New phase. The draft starts empty, so every entry keeps its current rates until the draft changes them. To start from an existing phase instead, open the menu next to New phase and choose a phase under Copy rates from. The draft then copies the entries that phase set. In the draft, set the rates of the entries you want to change:
  • A usage entry takes a matrix over the dimensions the entry declares. Each cell has its own pricing model, such as a unit rate or graduated tiers.
  • A fixed entry takes a fee: the flat amount for one billing period.
You can keep changing the draft, or discard it. A discarded draft is hidden at once. When the draft is ready, publish it. The Publish phase dialog asks for the Effective date and time (UTC) and checks the publish before it applies. It warns when:
  • the draft removes cells, so usage that matched them is not charged;
  • the matrix has no fallback, so usage that matches no cell is not charged;
  • issued invoices overlap the new phase. Those invoices keep their rates. See Issued invoices keep their rates.
If someone else publishes on the card while the dialog is open, your publish is refused and nothing changes. Check the newer phase, then publish again.

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Correct a published phase

You cannot edit a published phase. To fix a wrong rate, publish a correction that supersedes it. In the Publish phase dialog, choose the phase under Replace a published phase (optional). The correction takes the date of the phase it replaces, and the replaced phase becomes superseded. Two published phases on one card cannot have the same effective date. A publish at the date of an existing published phase that does not replace it is refused. Example: Phase 3 sets orion-pro in us to $0.0000025 from 15 Oct 2026. The correct rate is $0.0000026. You publish phase 4 and choose phase 3 to replace. Phase 4 starts on 15 Oct 2026, and phase 3 is superseded. A correction keeps every entry that its target set, so phase 4 also sets every other entry that phase 3 set.

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The two clocks

Each published phase has two times:
  • The effective date: when its rates apply.
  • The publish time: when Alguna learned them.
Billing reads the card as known at a moment. Only phases published at or before that moment count. So a phase can start in the past, and invoices that were already issued do not change. Example: As known on 1 Oct 2026, a token used on 20 Sep 2026 costs $0.000003, because P2 was not published yet. As known on 5 Oct 2026, the same token costs $0.0000027.

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Open invoices read the card as known now

When a phase publishes, Alguna reprices every open invoice of every subscription that uses the card. You do not refresh anything. Open invoices include drafts and invoices that are pending approval, scheduled or processing. If a repriced invoice was pending approval or approved and its amount changes, it goes back to pending approval. Nobody sends an amount that they did not see. Example: An invoice was approved at $1,000.00. A publish reprices it to $1,050.00. It is pending approval again.

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Issued invoices keep their rates

Alguna never re-rates an issued invoice. An issued invoice keeps the rates as known at its issue time. Anything that reads the issued period again, such as a minimum’s drawdown or revenue for the invoice, reads the card as known at that time too. When a phase published after the issue time covers part of the invoice’s period, the invoice line shows a note. The note says when the phase was published, the date its rates start, and that the invoice keeps the rates known when it was issued. Example: The September invoice issued on 1 Oct 2026 bills 10,000,000 orion-pro tokens in us, all used after 15 Sep 2026, at $0.000003: $30.00. On 4 Oct 2026, P2 publishes at $0.0000027 from 15 Sep 2026. As known now, the usage costs $27.00. The issued invoice stays at $30.00 and shows the note. Alguna does not credit the $3.00 difference. The publish dialog counts these invoices before you publish. The count includes issued, paid and overdue invoices with a line of a price on an entry the phase sets, where the line period ends after the phase starts. Void and canceled invoices do not count.

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Usage across a phase change

A phase change does not split the billing cycle. Inside the cycle, Alguna measures usage in one window for each phase and rates each window with its own phase. The invoice gets one line for each window and cell. Example: The cycle is 1 Oct to 1 Nov 2026. A phase from 15 Oct 2026 12:00 changes orion-pro in us from $0.000003 to $0.0000025. These rules apply:
  • The boundary belongs to the new phase. A window includes its start and excludes its end, to the millisecond. An event at exactly 15 Oct 12:00:00.000 uses the new phase.
  • Tiers carry across the split. Graduated tiers keep their position for each cell, and a tier fee is not charged twice. For example, with 0 to 1,000 units at $1.00 and then $0.50, 800 units before the split and 800 after cost $1,300.00, the same as with no split.
  • Only the usage entry splits usage. A phase that changes only a fee adds no usage line.
  • Rounding happens once per line. Rates keep full precision until the line total rounds to the currency’s minor unit.

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Fees across a phase change

A fixed entry bills in advance, at the fee in force at the start of the billing cycle. Every item of the cycle uses that fee, mid-cycle proration items included. Example: The platform fee changes from $500.00 to $600.00 from 16 Mar 2027. A customer billed monthly on the 1st pays $500.00 for March and $600.00 for April. A customer whose cycle starts on the 16th pays $600.00 from 16 Mar 2027. A fee change inside a cycle is not prorated. The March cycle in the example bills $500.00, not a mix of the two fees.

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Dates

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Any date is allowed

A phase can start in the past, today or in the future. A phase in the past changes open invoices only. Issued invoices keep their rates, and the publish tells you how many of them the phase overlaps. To publish a phase, with any date, you need the permission to manage rate cards.

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A card price cannot start before the first phase

A card has no rates before the first phase of an entry. So Alguna refuses a card price that would start earlier. This applies when you add a card price to a subscription, move a subscription start earlier, or check out with such a price. Example: The first phase of Token Standard starts on 5 Oct 2026. A subscription from 1 Oct 2026 is refused: “Token Standard has no rates before 5 Oct 2026. Publish a phase from 1 Oct 2026, or start the subscription on 5 Oct 2026.” If the entry has no published phase at all, the message asks you to publish a phase from the start date.