# Count usage when a job is accepted—not when the button is clicked > Source: > Published: 2026-07-16 10:26:22+00:00 I'm building a browser-based AI photo editor with a no-signup editing flow. One of the first design choices was deciding what should count as usage. The tempting implementation is simple: User clicks “Edit” -> decrement quota But a click is only intent. It is not yet an accepted unit of work. A request can fail validation, fail before the upload is usable, or be rejected by the service before a job exists. Counting any of those as AI usage turns product or reliability friction into a user penalty. For anonymous capacity controls, I use a different unit: One successfully accepted job consumes one unit of anonymous quota. The server validates and authorizes the request, then creates the job and records the accepted attempt in the same transaction. ``` BEGIN validate and authorize the request create the job record one accepted quota attempt COMMIT ``` If that transaction does not commit, there is no job and nothing is counted. This also makes the system easier to reason about. Admission accounting happens once, at a clear server-side boundary. Later lifecycle events are recorded separately: Those are useful signals for reliability and product quality, but they should not be confused with a browser click. The browser can still provide immediate feedback and discourage accidental repeat submissions. It is a UX layer, not the enforcement boundary. The service remains the source of truth for request admission and quota accounting. There is an important distinction here: an anonymous capacity quota is not the same thing as a paid credit system. If a product later sells credits, failed-result reversal or refund behavior needs its own explicit settlement policy. Reusing an anti-abuse quota rule for billing would be a mistake. I'm applying this pattern in Turner AI, a free AI photo editor - no signup, no watermark：[https://turner.art](https://turner.art) For anonymous capacity controls, would you count an accepted job, an inference start, or only a successful output?