> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://amethystapps.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# IndexStream FAQ

Everything you need to know about IndexStream automated crawl pipelines, credit allowances, and API integrations.

## General

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="What is IndexStream?" icon="shield-check" iconType="solid" color="#39FF14">
    IndexStream is an automated indexing and AI content optimisation platform. It submits URLs to Google and Bing simultaneously via the Google Indexing API and IndexNow, while running an AI quality check on every page.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Do I need technical knowledge to use it?" icon="user" iconType="solid" color="#39FF14">
    No. The dashboard is designed for anyone to use. However, a full REST API is also available for developers who want programmatic control.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="How is this different from just submitting a sitemap?" icon="route" iconType="solid" color="#39FF14">
    Sitemap submissions are entirely passive. IndexStream actively pushes directly to Google's indexing pipeline and Bing's IndexNow endpoint, triggering near-immediate re-crawls.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Is there a free plan?" icon="circle-info" iconType="solid" color="#39FF14">
    Yes. Every new account gets 5 free credits and 1 site allocation, with no credit card required to sign up.
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

## Indexing & Jobs

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="How quickly does indexing happen after I submit?" icon="clock" iconType="solid" color="#39FF14">
    Submission to Google and Bing happens within seconds. Google's actual re-crawl and presentation time is typically minutes to hours for established sites.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Does IndexStream guarantee my page will be indexed?" icon="shield-alert" iconType="solid" color="#39FF14">
    No tool can guarantee indexing. Google ultimately makes the final mathematical and qualitative decision regarding its search indexes.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="What does 'dual submission' mean?" icon="layer-group" iconType="solid" color="#39FF14">
    It means IndexStream fires requests to both the Google Indexing API and the IndexNow protocol in parallel during a single automated job run.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Can I re-index a URL I've already submitted?" icon="rotate" iconType="solid" color="#39FF14">
    Yes. You can resubmit an existing URL at any time. Each submission costs 1 credit, and there is no system cooldown period.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="What happens if a job fails?" icon="triangle-exclamation" iconType="solid" color="#39FF14">
    Check the job detail page for the specific error message. Common causes include the URL not being publically accessible, non-200 server status codes, or temporary engine API timeouts. You can retry the job at any time.
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

## AI Critique

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="What does the AI critique check?" icon="magnifying-glass" iconType="solid" color="#39FF14">
    It scores your page architecture across readability, schema markup (JSON-LD completeness), structural SEO signal strength (title, meta, headings, alt text), and modern AI-crawler friendliness.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Which plan do I need for full critique scores?" icon="sliders" iconType="solid" color="#39FF14">
    Starter plan users receive a baseline pass/fail indicator check. Growth plan tiers and above unlock full per-field scoring elements and historical critique digests.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Does my page need to pass the AI check to be submitted?" icon="circle-check" iconType="solid" color="#39FF14">
    No. IndexStream executes engine delivery regardless of your score metric. The critique system is completely advisory to help you improve indexation odds.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="What is llms.txt and why does it matter?" icon="file-code" iconType="solid" color="#39FF14">
    It is a text file located at your domain root that tells AI web crawlers like ChatGPT and Perplexity how to interpret your site assets. IndexStream automatically detects and tracks its presence on your domain.
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

## Credits & Billing

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="How do credits work?" icon="credit-card" iconType="solid" color="#39FF14">
    Each running indexing job costs exactly 1 credit. Base credits are provided directly within your monthly subscription plan, and you can buy extra tokens when your baseline runs low.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Do unused plan credits roll over?" icon="hourglass-end" iconType="solid" color="#39FF14">
    No. Base plan allocations reset cleanly at the start of each billing cycle. However, manual top-up credits never expire and carry forward month-to-month.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="What are top-up packs?" icon="box-open" iconType="solid" color="#39FF14">
    One-off, non-expiring credit purchases: Small (50 credits / £10), Medium (200 credits / £25), and Large (500 credits / £50).
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Can I change my plan or cancel?" icon="arrow-right-arrow-left" iconType="solid" color="#39FF14">
    Yes. Upgrade or downgrade from the Credits page instantly. To terminate, click **Credits → Cancel Plan**. You maintain your active operational scale parameters until the ongoing billing period concludes.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Do you offer refunds?" icon="arrow-rotate-left" iconType="solid" color="#39FF14">
    Used credit items cannot be refunded. Unused top-up packs may be evaluated for refunds within 14 days of purchase by contacting [support@amethystapps.com](mailto:support@amethystapps.com).
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

## API & Developer

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="How do I get an API key?" icon="key" iconType="solid" color="#39FF14">
    Navigate to the API Keys panel in your account view. Click 'Create Key' and copy the resulting string—it is shown once only for security.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Which plan do I need for API access?" icon="code" iconType="solid" color="#39FF14">
    The full write-enabled REST API is available on Pro tiers and above. Growth plan tiers receive read-only tracking configurations to poll job payload results.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Is there a rate limit on the API?" icon="gauge" iconType="solid" color="#39FF14">
    Yes. Rate restrictions vary depending on your plan tier. Flooding endpoints beyond your scale thresholds will prompt a standard HTTP 429 error response.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Can I use the API in a CI/CD pipeline?" icon="server" iconType="solid" color="#39FF14">
    Absolutely. You can script payloads to submit modified paths automatically on every production deployment to capture search updates instantly.
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

## Privacy & Security

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="What data do you store?" icon="database" iconType="solid" color="#39FF14">
    We store target site URLs, pipeline execution outputs, metadata critique logs, and billing history records. Your scraping pipeline drops raw, deep page text content after analysis completes.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Is my API key secure?" icon="shield-lock" iconType="solid" color="#39FF14">
    Keys are securely hashed at rest within our environments. If your authorization token is compromised, you can instantly drop and recreate its parameters from the API dashboard.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Where is my data hosted?" icon="cloud" iconType="solid" color="#39FF14">
    All server components execute on enterprise-grade Google Cloud platform infrastructure situated within Europe.
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

<br />

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