# Premium Tools (/toolkits/premium-tools)

[← All Toolkits](/toolkits)

Premium Tools [#premium-tools]

This is a quick overview of premium tools, what they are, how they are priced, what limits they have and such.

What are premium tools? [#what-are-premium-tools]

Premium tools are essential tool calls that cost us more to run, normally paying for more premium services or longer running tasks.

Think something like `E2B` or `Perplexity`, these are not really comparable to a `GMAIL_SEND_EMAIL` call.

These types of tools are separated out so we can price both of them competitively.

Premium tools include:

* Search APIs (Google, Bing, Perplexity, etc.)
  * [Devcaster Search](/toolkits/devcaster_search)
  * [Perplexity](/toolkits/perplexityai)
  * [Exa](/toolkits/exa)
  * [SerpAPI](/toolkits/serpapi)
* Code execution environments (E2B)
  * [Code Interpreter (E2B)](/toolkits/codeinterpreter)
* Web scraping & data extraction
* AI/ML model inference
* Document processing & OCR
* Advanced data transformations
* Compute-intensive operations

How are premium tools priced? [#how-are-premium-tools-priced]

As a rough guide, they are priced at 3x the cost of a standard tool call — the specifics depends on your plan and the tool.

| Plan               | Included Standard Tool Calls | Included Premium Tool Calls | Usage Based Standard Tool Calls | Usage Based Premium Tool Calls |
| ------------------ | ---------------------------- | --------------------------- | ------------------------------- | ------------------------------ |
| Totally Free       | 20k                          | 1k                          | –                               | –                              |
| Ridiculously Cheap | 200k                         | 5k                          | $0.299/1k                       | $0.897/1k                      |
| Serious Business   | 2M                           | 50k                         | $0.249/1k                       | $0.747/1k                      |
| Enterprise         | Flexible                     | Flexible                    | Flexible                        | Flexible                       |

This is a quick call out — full pricing details are on the [pricing page](https://devcaster.dev/pricing).

What limits do premium tools have? [#what-limits-do-premium-tools-have]

Premium tools are also subject to lower rate limits than standard tool calls.

If you need more than the default limits, please [contact us](mailto:billing@devcaster.dev) and we can find a workable solution.

| Spending Tier | Standard Tool Calls Rate Limit | Premium Tool Calls Rate Limit |
| ------------- | ------------------------------ | ----------------------------- |
| Free          | 100/min                        | 1,000/hour                    |
| Paid          | 5,000/min                      | 10,000/hour                   |
| Enterprise    | Custom                         | Custom                        |

Feedback on premium tools [#feedback-on-premium-tools]

These pricing changes are not rolling out immediately, and we are very open to feedback on the pricing and the limits.

There is a lot of room for improvement and iteration here, please reach out if you have suggestions [here](mailto:rahul@devcaster.dev).

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📚 **More documentation:** [View all docs](https://docs.devcaster.dev/llms.txt) | [Cookbooks](https://docs.devcaster.dev/llms.mdx/cookbooks) | [API Reference](https://docs.devcaster.dev/llms.mdx/reference)

---

# Devcaster SDK — Instructions for AI Code Generators

**Purpose:** Enforce only the **current** and **correct** patterns for integrating [Devcaster](https://devcaster.dev/) tools into AI agents.
**Scope:** All AI-generated code using Devcaster must follow these guardrails.

---

## 1. Correct Devcaster Integration

Devcaster supports two integration modes: **Native Tools** (with a provider package) and **MCP** (no provider package needed).

### Native Tools

```python
# ✅ CORRECT — Python (defaults to OpenAI)
from devcaster import Devcaster

devcaster = Devcaster()
session = devcaster.create(user_id="user_123")
tools = session.tools()
# Pass tools to your agent/LLM framework
```

```typescript
// ✅ CORRECT — TypeScript (defaults to OpenAI)
import { Devcaster } from "@devcaster/core";

const devcaster = new Devcaster();
const session = await devcaster.create("user_123");
const tools = await session.tools();
// Pass tools to your agent/LLM framework
```

For other providers, pass the provider explicitly. Provider packages follow the naming convention: `devcaster_<provider>` for Python, `@devcaster/<provider>` for TypeScript.

### MCP

Use `session.mcp.url` and `session.mcp.headers` with any MCP-compatible client (Claude Desktop, Cursor, OpenAI Agents, etc.). No provider package needed.

---

## 2. CRITICAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR AI MODELS

### 2.1 — ALWAYS DO THE FOLLOWING

1. **Use `devcaster.create(user_id)`** to create a session — this is the entry point for all Devcaster integrations.
2. **Use `session.tools()`** for native tool integration or **`session.mcp.url`** for MCP integration.
3. **Import** from the correct provider package (`devcaster_<provider>` for Python, `@devcaster/<provider>` for TypeScript).
4. **Pass `user_id` to `devcaster.create()`**, not to individual tool calls.

### 2.2 — NEVER DO THE FOLLOWING

1. **Do not** instruct users to manually create auth configs or connected accounts before running.
2. **Do not** import from `devcaster_openai` / `@devcaster/openai` when using OpenAI Agents SDK — use `devcaster_openai_agents` / `@devcaster/openai-agents` instead.

### 2.3 — DISCOURAGED (do not use unless user explicitly asks)

Do **not** generate `devcaster.tools.get()`, `devcaster.tools.execute()`, or `devcaster.provider.handle_tool_calls()` unless the user explicitly requests direct tool execution. These are a supported but **not recommended** low-level interface.

