Earn Mode

Earn Mode is a policy: a switch, a set of conditions, and a set of limits. It's enforced where it runs — in the browser today (see Earn Mode in the browser), or by the optional desktop app later. Each shows only the conditions and limits it can actually enforce.

The model is EarnModePolicy in shared/src/earn-mode.ts.

Conditions

All enabled conditions must be true before anything is contributed.

Condition	Meaning	Default
Idle	No keyboard or mouse input for N minutes	On, 15 minutes
Plugged in	The computer is on external power	On
Battery	Battery at or above N%. Treated as met on devices without a battery	On, 50%
GPU usage	The owner's own GPU use is below N%	On, 20%
Active hours	Local time is inside a window, which may cross midnight	Off, 23:00–07:00

Earn Mode itself is off by default. Nothing contributes until the person turns it on.

Evaluation

evaluateEarnMode(policy, inputs) returns a check per enabled condition (met, unmet or unknown) and a single ready flag.

• ready is true only when Earn Mode is on and every check is met.
• An unknown reading never counts as met. If the device can't tell whether it's idle, Earn Mode waits.
• When any condition stops being met while contributing, contribution must stop promptly and the state change must be reported.

The website's Earn Mode page runs this same function against a hypothetical computer so people can try the rules.

Limits

While contributing, Idlecash stays within these bounds:

Limit	Range
CPU share	10–100%
GPU share	10–100%
Storage allocation	0–2,000 GB
Bandwidth	0–1,000 Mbps

Resource groups (compute, storage, bandwidth) can also be switched off entirely. Storage and bandwidth are off by default and marked "coming later" in the product until supported workloads exist for them.

States

State	Meaning
off	Earn Mode is switched off
waiting	On, but a condition isn't met
ready	All conditions met; waiting for a workload
contributing	A workload is running within the limits
paused	Temporarily paused by the owner