Security & safeguards
Safeguards that are actually enforced in code.
No certification claims here — just the concrete controls running in production today: billing pre-authorization, access isolation, rate limiting and automatic workload shutdown.
Full-Cost Pre-Authorization
Every job is paid in full up front — insufficient balance returns a 402 before any node is contacted.
Per-Key Rate Limits
30 requests/min and 3 concurrent jobs per API key by default, with deterministic 429s.
Customer Spend Caps
Optional monthly spend ceiling per account and per API key, removable only by you.
Metering & Auto-Shutdown
Instances are metered every 15 minutes and terminated at the provider when balance or the paid window ends.
Scoped API Keys
kw_live_ keys are SHA-256 hashed at rest, shown once, and revocable instantly.
Execution Ledger
Every API call, charge and top-up is written to an append-only transaction log.
Access & lifecycle
Identity, isolation and evidence
Owner-Scoped Access Control
Row-level security on every table: API keys, balances, instances and logs are readable only by the account that owns them.
Scoped, Hashed API Keys
kw_live_ keys are SHA-256 hashed at rest, shown exactly once at creation, and revocable instantly from the console.
Execution Ledger
Every API call, charge and wallet top-up is written to an append-only transaction log visible in your console.
Ephemeral Workloads
Instances are terminated at the provider when the paid window ends or balance reaches zero — no idle machines left running.
Full-Cost Pre-Authorization
The entire estimated job cost must be in your wallet before launch. The API returns a 402 with the exact amount otherwise.
Payment Security via Stripe
All card handling and PCI-DSS scope is delegated to Stripe. Card numbers never touch Kilawatt servers.
Operating targets
What the platform enforces today
| Control | Target | Enforcement |
|---|---|---|
| Usage metering interval | Every 15 min | Automatic instance shutdown at zero balance |
| Job pre-authorization | 100% of estimated cost | 402 before any node is contacted |
| Rate limiting | 30 req/min per key | Deterministic 429 responses |
| Concurrency | 3 jobs per key | 429 until a slot frees |
| Support response | Same business day | Direct email escalation to the founding team |
| Payment security | PCI-DSS via Stripe | Card data never touches our servers |