Frequently asked questions
The questions Bridge users ask most often, with current canonical answers. Grouped by topic.
About the product
What is Bridge?
Bridge is a mobile-first notes-and-thinking workspace. You capture raw, scattered software ideas in the app; Bridge classifies them, finds semantic relationships between them, and generates implementation-ready specs — a brief, user flow, architecture, data model, ordered tasks, acceptance criteria and scope, plus an AGENTS.md overlay — that any coding agent can implement against. See What Bridge is for the longer overview.
Do I need an API key to use Bridge?
No — not to get started. Every account gets 5 AI runs a month at Bridge's expense.
One run reads a single note and decides whether it's an idea worth developing or a reference to keep. If it's an idea, the run also writes its expansion — a short paragraph that draws out what you meant, so the note becomes searchable, connectable to related notes, and ready to turn into a plan. Reference notes use a run too, even though they don't get an expansion.
Runs reset on the 1st of each month and need a verified email address. Past those 5, you bring your own API key.
What does "BYOAPI" mean and why?
BYOAPI means bring your own API key. Beyond the 5 free monthly runs, Bridge doesn't resell AI inference: you supply your own API key — Anthropic, OpenAI, or Google Gemini — and those AI costs are charged directly to your provider account by your provider. Bridge orchestrates the calls and charges a flat subscription for that orchestration layer only.
This keeps Bridge's pricing predictable: you pay for what you use at provider cost, with no markup baked in. It also lets you choose your own models and control your own data relationship with the AI provider.
A key is honored on a paid plan. On Discover and above, your key gives unlimited classification and expansion. On the Free tier you stay at 5 runs a month whether or not you've added a key.
What happens when I run out of free runs?
Nothing is lost — the note text is saved exactly as you wrote it. What a note captured after the cap says depends on your plan:
- On Free, the note says you're out of free runs this month and offers See plans. When the runs reset on the 1st, pull down on the Notes tab to process the waiting notes.
- On a paid plan, your own key classifies your notes from then on. Until you've set one up, the note says "You haven't picked an AI model yet. Add an API key and choose a default model in Settings → AI & Models.", with an AI & Models settings button. Add a key, then choose a model: saving a key doesn't pick one for you, so the default model reads None until you do. Choosing it re-runs the waiting notes; you can also tap Retry on a note.
A run that fails isn't counted, and deleting a note while its free run is still running gives the run back.
If free runs are paused, the note says so instead and no run is used. Bridge classifies it automatically when free runs resume.
Notes longer than 2,000 characters are truncated for a free run — the app flags this on the note. On your own key there's no such limit.
How much will I actually spend on AI costs?
It depends on your usage and which models you point Bridge at. A moderate usage profile — 5 notes per day, 5 Build Plans per month, 10 Chat sessions per month, daily clustering — costs roughly:
- All Haiku 4.5: ~$4/month
- Suggested defaults (Haiku for background, Sonnet 4.6 for Build Plan and Chat): ~$6/month
- All Sonnet 4.6: ~$12/month
- All Opus 4.8: ~$20/month
Those figures are for AI run on your own key. The 5 free monthly runs cost you nothing — Bridge pays for them — so the Free tier stays genuinely free: your only cost is your time.
Settings → Usage shows what you've spent this month, at each call's exact cost on your key. Costs are grouped by what you did: chat turns under Chat; Build Plans and the expansions you ask for under Build Plan; automatic work, including the connection test and the memory summary, under Auto-processing. Export CSV lists every call with its exact cost in US dollars (costUsd, to six decimals), and the rows add up to the screen's total.
Each call is priced at your provider's published rates, which Bridge keeps current on its server, so estimates and alerts don't wait for an app update. Cached input is counted at the provider's cached-input price, for Anthropic, OpenAI and Gemini alike: not dropped, and not charged at the full input price. A model Bridge has no price for shows Price unknown in AI & Models; its calls are recorded with their exact token counts but no cost.
Set a budget alert in Settings → Usage and Bridge tells you, once a month, when your spend passes it: an Inbox item, plus a push notification in the Spending category. Calls on models with an unknown price aren't counted toward this alert. The budget card says so when this month has any.
Usage also shows your daily limits on chat messages, expansions, model list refreshes and connection tests, which reset after 00:00 UTC. Pull down on Settings → Usage to refresh them.
To see which models do the work, open Settings → AI & Models → What will this cost?. It names the model used for classification and the one used for automatic expansion.
What if my API key runs out of credit?
Bridge stops and says so, naming your provider: for example, "Your OpenAI key is out of credit. Add credit with OpenAI or switch model in Settings." Nothing falls back to Bridge's AI. Notes, expansions and chat replies that hit it show the reason with an AI & Models settings button. After you add credit or switch model, tap Retry; chat replies offer Retry too.
The same goes for the other ways a call can be refused:
- "OpenAI rejected your API key" (or Anthropic, or Gemini) means the provider refused the key you saved. Check it in Settings → AI & Models.
- A model your provider no longer offers to your key says so. Pick another model in Settings → AI & Models.
- With no key for the model a feature uses, or no model chosen, notes, expansions and chat say "You haven't picked an AI model yet…", with AI & Models settings and Retry.
- Deleting a key also clears the default model and any per-feature models from that provider, so they read None again.
- A saved model Bridge doesn't recognize says "Bridge doesn't recognize this model. Choose one from the list." in AI & Models, and the Settings card reads Model not recognized.
What does the LTD ("Lifetime") tier actually mean?
"Lifetime" means the operational lifetime of Bridge, not the lifetime of the universe. Bridge commits to operating the service for a minimum of three years from your LTD purchase date, to providing 90 days written notice before any discontinuation, and to making your data available for export during that notice period. LTD purchases are final sale. This follows the SaaS industry standard for lifetime deals.
Will prices change?
Launch prices are locked. Bridge may raise prices for new signups around six months after public launch, but existing customers — including anyone who signs up during the founders window — are grandfathered at their original rate. The 20% founders discount on yearly plans is permanent: founders yearly subscribers stay at the founders rate for the life of the subscription, as long as it doesn't lapse.
Where can I buy each tier?
Recurring plans and the Refine LTD are sold on bridgedev.io through Stripe. In-app purchases are not available.
A purchase becomes one Bridge entitlement: sign into the app with the same account and your plan is there. Manage the purchase at bridgedev.io.
When does Bridge launch?
Public launch is planned for November 1, 2026, on Android through Google Play. Founding members get access ahead of public launch and get first access to leave feedback before general availability.
What platforms does Bridge support?
At public launch, Bridge is an Android app on Google Play. The bridgedev.io web surface is currently marketing only — the workspace itself is mobile.
What happens while Bridge is being updated?
Now and then Bridge pauses for a short while to install a larger update. The app shows Bridge is being updated., and when we know it, the time Bridge expects to be back. You can keep capturing notes: Bridge processes them when the update is done, and nothing is charged twice. Your notes, chats, graph, usage and plans still open. Actions that change something, such as chat, expansions, Build Plans, plan changes and deleting your account, say Bridge is being updated. Your notes are safe. Please try again a little later. until then. The web demo says so too.
How is my data handled?
Notes are stored on your device and in your own private, isolated space on Bridge's infrastructure to enable the service. Bridge does not sell user data. API keys are held in encrypted secret storage, separate from your notes.
AI runs as soon as you save a note: Bridge classifies every note automatically (see Notes & classification). Where the note text goes depends on which path processed it:
- On your own API key — classification, expansion, chat, and Build Plan send note content to the provider you chose (Anthropic, OpenAI, or Google Gemini), per their API terms.
- On a free monthly run — the note text is processed by Google Vertex AI under Bridge's own account, because Bridge is paying for that inference rather than your provider.
- Constellations (Discover and above) — to find related notes, Bridge sends each Expandable note's expansion to Google Vertex AI under Bridge's own account to compute its embedding, whether or not you've added a key. Reference notes aren't embedded.
Full details at /legal/privacy.
How do I get a copy of my data?
Email privacy@bridgedev.io from your account's email address. Within one month we send a machine-readable copy (JSON) of your account details, notes, chats, constellations and a list of your plans. Each plan's files download from that plan in the app. There is no export button in the app.
How do I delete my account?
In the app, open Settings → Account → Delete account, or delete it on the website at bridgedev.io/account/delete. Deletion is immediate and can't be undone: your notes, plans, chats, graph, settings, stored API keys and sign-in account are erased.
If you have a subscription bought on bridgedev.io that will renew, cancel it first; Bridge won't delete the account until you do, because deleting wouldn't stop the billing. Invoices stay with Stripe for tax and accounting. If you can't sign in, email privacy@bridgedev.io from your account's email address.
About notes and constellations
Why can't I edit a note after I capture it?
The raw text of a captured note can't be edited. The reason is cascade safety: if you edited a note, everything downstream that depended on it — its expansion, the constellation it belonged to, any chat that referenced it, any Build Plan that included it — would need to re-run or get re-validated. The on-capture scan and expansion can re-run, but the source text stays as you typed it.
How long until my note shows up in the graph?
About thirty seconds for the initial scan to extract URLs, hashtags, and code blocks, and to draw connections to related notes. On Discover tier and above, the general expansion usually finishes within one to two minutes after that. Clustering runs in batches; expect new constellations to surface within five to ten minutes of adding notes that warrant a new cluster.
If you want to force the graph to catch up immediately, pull down at the top of the Notes tab — see The graph view.
What if I disagree with the auto-classification?
Tap the classification chip on the note detail page. You can override Expandable → Reference or Reference → Expandable. Bridge doesn't push back; your override is the source of truth from that point.
My note shows as an orphan instead of in a constellation — why?
Constellations form once Bridge sees three or more semantically-related notes. If your note is the first or second of a theme, it sits as an orphan until enough siblings show up. Keep capturing related notes; clustering will connect them. If you're certain the note should be in an existing constellation, you can manually assert an edge via long-press → Connect to... (see The graph view).
About Build Plan output
Can I regenerate a Build Plan?
Yes. Start a venture from the same note again. The new run uses your current context — latest notes, latest expansions, latest user-behavior memory. The old version stays in the Plan tab archive so you can pick which version to download or share. Build Plan regeneration is unlimited on Build, Refine, and Refine LTD tiers.
Can I edit the plan files directly outside Bridge?
Yes. The files are markdown — you can open them in any editor and change anything. Once you've edited outside Bridge, the in-app Plan tab will show the stale version unless you regenerate. The Refine-tier in-app diff-approval flow only works on plan files Bridge still has the canonical version of (see Refining a plan). For most users: edit in Bridge if you're going to keep iterating; edit externally only once the plan is feeding production code and you want to keep changes in your repo's history.
What if my coding agent doesn't read AGENTS.md automatically?
Most modern coding agents read a project context file at the project root by default — AGENTS.md is the emerging cross-tool standard for that file. If your agent doesn't pick it up automatically, point it at the file explicitly in your first prompt: "Read AGENTS.md at the project root and follow its working agreement." The content is portable — same reading order, same instructions, no tool-specific magic.
Still have a question?
Press ⌘K (or Ctrl-K) to search the docs. If the answer isn't here, reach out — Bridge is small enough that we read every email. Contact details on the About page.