For curators · Article II, with K.3 · Rewritten from Field Manual Ch 3.7
K-3.7 Usage Pricing for a Host's Own Costs
Spec v0.1.1 · StableExamples invented and labeled
The Field Manual's Chapter 3.7 teaches three models that "pay you for something that moves": a share of money recovered or saved, a success fee when an event lands, and a price per unit consumed. On Kindling, two of the three are closed to anything an introduction touches. The third, usage pricing, works for one job: charging for a host's own costs. K.3 draws the line: "Usage pricing can price a host's own costs, such as Pools hosted or storage, and never introductions or messages."
Kindling defines no chargeable surface between two people (§1.3, a stated non-goal). Spec references are to v0.1.1, as of October 4, 2026.
What is closed
No price on Kindling may rest on any of these. Each fails K.3's three questions, the edition's rule built beside §1.3's non-goal.
| Closed | Why | The library's own line (invented organizations) |
|---|---|---|
| A success fee whose event is an introduction, a first message or a relationship | The fee would be on the introduction | Hearthhold: "Nobody pays to be listed, met or introduced." |
| A percentage of anything an introduction produced | Someone would earn more because two people met | Seen Work: "Nobody pays a referral fee, on either side"; Ferry Room: "we don't take a cut of a gig" |
| A price per message, handshake or yes | Messages carry the introduction (§6.3) | Threshold: "There is no fee on a yes, no price on a proposal, and nothing that sells a member's attention." |
| Thanks after an introduction, as a price | Status: Draft (v0.2). The protocol site calls it "voluntary post-introduction gratitude, which the framework says cannot be turned into a paywall." | Late Supper takes thanks "after an introduction has worked," and sells nothing on it |
Figures checked October 2026.
Chapter 3.7's percentage-of-recovery model, its success-fee model, the rules restricting percentage fees and its attribution machinery have no use inside the Kindling universe. The full chapter is on solo.joshwolf.net for the business you run outside it.
Usage pricing, applied to hosting
A Pool host's costs move with how much it hosts. §3.1 makes a Pool "retrievable as a JSON document, either from a public Git repository or from a Pool API endpoint that returns the same shape," and the protocol site's build page says the registry is "designed to run on a single VPS or a small container." K.3 lists the published prices for both, checked October 4, 2026. Price on a unit the buyer can read in their own budget. Chapter 3.7 warns against a unit that "means nothing to the buyer's budget." Pools hosted passes that test. Emails sent fails it, and is closed anyway.
Chapter 3.7's rule for every usage price is "a rate, a floor, a cap, a measurement and a dispute path, all in writing, before the first invoice goes out."
Floors and caps, with one Kindling rule
"The floor keeps a bad month from costing you money," set at your cost to serve. "The cap keeps the customer's trust": a ceiling the customer chooses, with an alert before it.
On Kindling the cap limits what you bill. It never limits what you process. The Field Manual's worked model stops processing at the cap. A Pool host cannot do that. "Implementations MUST process withdrawal within 60 seconds of receipt" (§5.3), and that holds in the month a customer hits their ceiling. A handshake in flight and a dormancy notice (§9.1) still go out. Above the cap you absorb the cost, so set the cap where you can afford to.
Worked model: an invented host
An invented host keeps Pools for small organizations at $6 per Pool per month, with a $30 monthly minimum and a customer-set cap of $150. Every input is an assumption except the payment fees, which are the Field Manual's dated lines in Chapter 5.3 (Stripe online card 2.9% + 30¢; Stripe Invoicing add-on "about 0.4% per paid invoice (starter tier)"), and the server and email prices, which are K.3's (a $6.00 DigitalOcean droplet for 1 GiB; Amazon SES at $0.10 per 1,000 emails). The host runs one droplet per 10 Pools and sends about 200 emails per Pool a month: handshakes, verification links and notices.
| Line | Small | Typical | Large (capped) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pools hosted | 2 | 10 | 40 |
| Usage at $6 per Pool | $12.00 | $60.00 | $240.00 |
| Billed (minimum $30, cap $150) | $30.00 | $60.00 | $150.00 |
| Servers: one $6.00 droplet per 10 Pools | $6.00 | $6.00 | $24.00 |
| Email: 200 per Pool at $0.10 per 1,000 | $0.04 | $0.20 | $0.80 |
| Stripe Invoicing, about 0.4% | $0.12 | $0.24 | $0.60 |
| Card processing, 2.9% + 30¢ | $1.17 | $2.04 | $4.65 |
| Gross profit (margin) | $22.67 (75.6%) | $51.52 (85.9%) | $119.95 (80.0%) |
Figures checked October 2026.
The capped customer's 40 Pools all keep running, withdrawals included. The cap costs the host $90 of usage revenue that month and keeps a customer who can see their bill in advance.
The table has no row for your time. K.3 says it plainly: "The largest cost is time, and the table has no row for it." The invented Ferry Room's line is the only figure the sites offer: "The Pools cost us an afternoon a week and earn nothing." Track your own hours before you trust a margin.
Forecast variable revenue in two lines
Chapter 3.7's rule fits a hosting business as written: report "committed revenue (floors and minimums) at 100%, and variable revenue at the lowest of the last three months." Put both lines in the 13-week forecast (Chapter 5.2, on solo.joshwolf.net).
Test without burning your first customers
- Shadow-bill the first 30 days: calculate the hosting charge from the customer's real Pool count and send it as information, with no invoice.
- Pilot with a floor and cap on two or three organizations, with a written end date.
- Set pass and fail before you start: a minimum margin, a maximum share of invoices questioned.
- Change one variable at a time. Do not alter a live customer's formula mid-term.
What the contract must say
Chapter 3.7's usage row is the whole list for a host: "Unit definition, rate, minimum, customer-set cap, alert level, metering data access." Add one sentence of your own: hosting continues above the cap, and no limit in the contract ever delays a withdrawal (§5.3). Chapter K-4.3 covers the rest of an arrangement with an organization.
Two lines from Chapter 3.7's "When the model is wrong" still apply. "The payoff comes more than a quarter after the work. Your cash does not wait that long." And "The fee on a small base cannot cover your cost to serve and the customer will not accept a floor." If either is true, charge a flat plan instead (Chapter K-3.6).
Field exercises
- Price one hosting plan with a rate, a floor and a cap. Done when the floor is at or above your cost to serve and the cap is a number you can afford to exceed.
- Run the weak-month test: half the Pools you expect. Done when your margin in that month is stated in dollars.
- Write the usage clause for your hosting contract, including the sentence that hosting continues above the cap. Done when it names the unit, rate, minimum, cap, alert level and how the customer sees their usage.
- Shadow-bill one organization for 30 days. Done when you have the calculated charge, their reaction in writing, and one number you changed.
- Log your own hours on hosting for four weeks. Done when you can state your gross profit after time, not only before it.
Rewritten for the Kindling edition from Chapter 3.7 of The Solo Operator's Field Manual. The full chapter is on solo.joshwolf.net. © 2026 Josh Wolf, licensed under CC BY 4.0. Quotations from the Kindling Protocol Specification v0.1.1: © 2026 TranquilTech and Kindling spec contributors, CC BY 4.0, marked where shortened.