FAQs
What is Rival?
Rival is a platform for building, running, and monetizing AI-powered serverless tools - you write the logic, Rival handles running it, and the marketplace lets you earn from what you publish.
What is a tool on Rival?
A tool is the core unit of work on Rival. It’s a self-contained, executable piece of logic with a defined input schema and output, hosted and run by Rival on demand. Tools can be called from the dashboard, via API, or by AI agents depending on their type. Each tool goes through a lifecycle: Draft while you’re building, Private when you want to test without publishing, and Public when you’re ready for others to use it.
What are the different tool types?
Rival supports three tool types. Function is a serverless code handler written in Python, JavaScript, or Lua - the most flexible type, suitable for any computation or API integration. MCP is a JSON-RPC 2.0 compliant tool designed to be called directly by AI agents and orchestration systems. Storm is a content tagging engine: you define a taxonomy in a topic file, and Storm tags incoming content against that taxonomy automatically.
What are credits?
Credits are the platform’s execution currency. Every time a tool runs, a small amount of credits is deducted from your organization’s wallet based on how long the execution takes. Credits keep the cost model simple and usage-based - you only pay for what runs. You can top up your credit balance from the Billing section of your workspace at any time.
How do I get started?
Sign up at cortexone.rival.io/auth/signup using your email, Google, or GitHub account. You’ll immediately be prompted to create an organization - your workspace on Rival. Once that’s done, go to Workspace Settings → Organization and verify your phone number to unlock $10 in welcome credits. Then head to the Tools section to create your first tool, or browse the marketplace to see what others have built.
How do I earn money on Rival?
When you publish a tool to the marketplace and set it to paid, other users pay credits to run it. You receive 85% of each execution’s cost. Earnings accumulate in your organization’s wallet and can be withdrawn through the payouts flow in Workspace Settings → Billing. You can also earn through the referral program - 5% of the tool revenue generated by anyone who signs up through your referral link.
What happens when I run out of credits?
Executions fail with an insufficient credits error. Your tools, code, and data are not affected - you just can’t run anything until you top up. Go to Workspace Settings → Billing to add credits. If a paid tool of yours is called while your own balance is low, that doesn’t affect the caller - they’re spending from their own wallet, not yours.
What’s the difference between Private and Public tools?
A Private tool is visible only to members of your organization who have been assigned access. It won’t appear in the marketplace and cannot be called by users outside your organization. A Public tool is listed in the marketplace and can be discovered and run by anyone. You choose the visibility when you publish. You can move a tool from Private to Public at any time, but going from Public back to Private may affect users who are already relying on it.
Can I change my organization name?
Organization names appear in tool URLs and marketplace listings, so renaming one has downstream effects on any existing links or API references. If you need to change your organization name, contact support@rival.io - don’t create a new organization as a workaround.
How do I invite my team?
Go to Workspace Settings → Members and enter the email address of the person you want to invite. Select their role (Member or Admin) and send the invitation. They’ll receive an email with a link to accept. Invitations expire after 24 hours. Once they’ve joined, members with the Member role need to be assigned to specific tools or teams before they can do anything - that assignment happens separately from the invitation.
What runtimes are supported?
Functions and MCP tools can be written in Python, JavaScript, or Lua. Python is the most familiar choice for data and AI work. JavaScript and Lua are both significantly faster to start up and execute, making them better suited for latency-sensitive use cases. Storm tools don’t require you to write code - you provide a topic file instead.
What is an event?
An event is a sample input used to run or test a tool. When you build a tool, you define what its input schema looks like - an event is a concrete instance of that schema with real values filled in. Events are the inputs you use when testing your tool before publishing, and they appear in the tool’s usage interface so other users can understand what a valid input looks like.
What is a test case?
A test case is an event that you’ve saved specifically to verify that your tool behaves correctly. When you run a test case, you’re checking that the tool produces the expected output for that input. Test cases help you catch regressions when you update your code and give other users confidence that the tool works as documented.
How does the referral program work?
Organization owners who have verified their phone number can access a referral link from Workspace Settings → Refer & Earn. When a new user signs up through your link and builds paid tools, you earn 5% of their tool revenue - taken from Rival’s platform fee, not the creator’s share. Earnings are calculated monthly and paid Net 30. The cap is $500 per referred user per calendar year. See the Referral Program page for full details.
Where can I get help?
Email support@rival.io for any account, billing, or technical questions. When reporting a bug or issue, include your organization name, the tool ID and version you were working with, the input that caused the problem, and the error message you received. This helps the support team reproduce and resolve the issue faster.