> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.hopscotchlabs.ai/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Playground > Run a real request from the dashboard. Every run sends as one of your workspace keys, spends real credit, and stores nothing. The playground is a chat screen in the dashboard that sends a real request to a real model. It is not a simulator and not a sandbox. A playground run spends real credit from this workspace's balance, at the same rate an API call to the same model would. There is no free tier on this screen. ## Every run sends as one of your keys Before you can send anything you pick a key. The screen labels the control `Send as key` and explains what it is for: > The key this request is testing. Its tokens and its charge land on this key's > line, which is what makes a playground run and an API call read the same in > your usage. The key is attribution, not authentication. The playground is authenticated by your dashboard session; the key you pick decides which key's line the spend lands on. You never paste a key secret into the playground, and you could not: only a hash of it exists, so there is nothing to paste back. **No key means no playground.** A workspace with no keys cannot use this screen, and the screen says so and points at Keys rather than leaving the composer looking broken: > Every playground request sends as one of this workspace's API keys, so its > usage lands on that key's line. Create a key and this composer unlocks. Sending without naming a key is refused with: > Every playground request sends as one of this workspace's API keys, so its > spend lands on that key's line. Pick a key, or create one on the Keys screen if > this workspace has none yet. ### Which keys you can send as Exactly the keys your key list shows you, and no others. An owner or admin can send as any key in the workspace; everybody else can send as the keys they are accountable for or named on. A reserved key that has not been viewed yet is not offered, because it is not a key yet. A key that does not exist and a key you are not allowed to see are refused with the same message: > That is not a key you can send as in this workspace. Pick one from your own key > list. One message rather than two, because two would tell you which hidden keys exist, which is the thing a member limit is for. See [Who can see which keys](/guides/create-an-api-key#who-can-see-which-keys). ## What a run does to your balance A playground run is admitted, held against your balance, and settled the same way an API request is. The same code path serves both doors, so the request that leaves us is the same request either way. That means: * It reserves an estimated maximum before the model is called, and a run you cannot pay for is refused before it reaches a provider. * It settles at the provider's rate at face value, with no markup, exactly like an API call. * It writes a usage record on that key's line, alongside the member who was at the keyboard. Those are two different facts: the key says whose line the spend lands on, the member says who sent it. So a model you tested in the playground and then called through the API tell one story about the same spend rather than two. ## Nothing is stored The prompt and the reply are not stored, here or on our side. The screen states it rather than letting you find out: > The playground keeps no history, because we never store prompts. Leaving this > screen loses what is on it. There is no history, no saved session, and no shareable link to a run. If you want to keep a prompt, keep it on your side. See [Data and privacy](/concepts/data-and-privacy). The metadata is kept, like any request: the model, the token counts, the cost, the latency and the outcome. That is what makes the run visible in your usage figures without the content being anywhere. ## The metrics line Each reply carries one quiet line of figures under it, with each figure labelled: time to first token, total time, tokens per second, tokens in, tokens out. A figure that was not measured reads `unknown` rather than `0`, because a measured zero and a missing measurement are different facts and only one of them is something you can act on. Two absences worth knowing about: * **Time to first token reads `unknown`.** The playground does not stream yet, so the reply arrives in one piece and there is no first-token moment to measure. A streamed API request does carry that timing. * **No cost appears on this line.** The charge is computed in one place and shown in your usage figures, not worked out by this screen. To see what a run cost, read it in your usage. See [Monitor usage](/guides/monitor-usage). ## Refusals you may hit **Requests are paused.** If the owner has paused the workspace, requests are refused, playground runs included. Reading the pause state is open to every member; changing it is the owner's. See [Spend controls](/guides/spend-controls). **The workspace is suspended.** A suspended workspace cannot send at all: > This account is suspended, so it cannot send requests. Contact support. **No credit.** A run that the balance cannot cover is refused before the model is called. Nothing is charged for a request we refuse. See [Credits and billing](/concepts/credits-and-billing). ## What is not built yet The playground works and it spends real money, and much of what the finished screen will do is still open work: * **No streaming.** The reply arrives complete. * **No cost preview before you send**, and no cost figure after. * **No per-run generation settings** beyond choosing the model and the key. * **No warning that a run is about to exceed your balance** other than the refusal itself. The whole conversation is sent again on every turn, which is how a stateless completions API remembers anything. A long conversation therefore costs more per turn than a short one, because the prompt grows. ## What we did not verify The behaviour on this page comes from the shipped screen and the route behind it, including the key requirement and the refusal wording. It was not exercised against a deployed environment for this documentation, and the playground stories that would accept this screen are still open.