# Guest access

Any member can **give a friend guest access to the co-op**: **$2 of AI usage
for 60 days**, spent in the chat and the API. It doesn't come out of your own
balance. You can send it once every 30 days, and an address can receive it
only once.

## How to send guest access

On your [dashboard](https://dashboard.inference.coop), open the **Guests**
card, enter your friend's email address (name optional), and click
**Send invite**. There's no approval step: the account is provisioned right
away, and your friend gets an **invitation email** from the co-op, naming
you, with a link to set up their account. Setting it up takes about a minute.

New guests show as **Invited — awaiting setup** until they accept it. The
card also lists the guests you've sent.

## What your guest gets

- **$2 of credit** for the chat and the API — a hard cap: usage stops when
  it's spent.
- **Their own dashboard** at
  [dashboard.inference.coop](https://dashboard.inference.coop) showing what's
  left.
- **The weekly newsletter** and these public docs.

Guest access is not membership — no Matrix, governance forum, or vote.

## When it ends

When **the $2 is spent or the 60 days are up**, whichever comes first, your
friend gets an email saying so. Access stops; **the account and its data are
kept** — and a guest can end it early with the **Cancel guest access** link
on their dashboard, returning any unspent credit to the co-op.

## Becoming a member

Contribute on
[Open Collective](https://opencollective.com/inference-cooperative/contribute)
and the account converts automatically — same login, same dashboard. Any
unspent guest credit carries over. See
[Become a member](getting-started.md#1-become-a-member) for how membership
works.