The two direct ways to unlock and fund a new hourly deployment are:
- Add a positive account-credit balance.
- Save a card that automatic recharge can actually charge.
The result at deployment depends on which one is available:
- Positive credit: the hourly order has $0.00 due and is queued immediately. Usage begins drawing down the balance.
- Usable saved card with a balance at or below $0.00: LayerOne immediately charges exactly one month of credit for the selected plan. The payment is posted as account credit, and only then is the server queued.
- No usable card and no positive credit: checkout collects one month of selected-plan credit before deployment. You can also add credit from Billing first.
If the saved-card charge is declined or cannot be confirmed, no provisioning is queued. Fix the card or add credit and try again.
A completed deposit or an existing live server can keep the account-level hourly/API feature unlocked, but neither is current funding. Another paid deployment still needs positive credit or a usable saved card.
Not every saved card counts
A method marked credit-only or one-time, or a payment method from a provider the recharge path will not charge, is not cover, because a falling balance would never actually result in a charge.
Blocked instead of gated
- Negative balance without a usable card. Add enough credit to restore a positive balance, save a usable card, or continue through checkout for one month of selected-plan credit. A usable saved card can make the immediate one-month charge described above even while the balance is negative.
- Suspended account. Add credit to recover it. See Low credit and suspension.
The same gate covers the API
The Client API is locked with 402 payment_required until hourly billing is
unlocked, and refuses everything with 403 forbidden while the account is
suspended or closed. See API quickstart.