Buying capacity
Requests and quotes
Write a private request, choose which verified suppliers see it, and receive firm quotes built from their inventory.
On this page
A request (RFQ) is how a buyer tells suppliers what they need without publishing it. Quotes come back privately, one deal room per supplier.
Write a request
Open Requests in the workspace and start a new one. You can save a draft with only a title and fill the rest in later. To send it, these have to be set:
| Field | Required to send | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Title | Yes | 3 to 120 characters |
| Model | Yes | Pick one from the catalog, or describe the model you need in words |
| Input and output tokens | Yes | Your estimate of the volume for the whole window |
| Delivery window | Yes | Start and end. The end has to be in the future |
| Suppliers | Yes | At least one verified supplier, up to 20 |
| Capacity class | Defaults to metered allowance | See Capacity classes |
| Requests per minute, tokens per minute, concurrency | No | The limits you need enforced |
| Region | No | Free text, such as us-east |
| Latency class | No | interactive, standard or batch |
| Privacy requirements, compliance, notes | No | Free text for anything the quote has to respect |
| Budget | No | In USD |
| Response deadline | No | When you'd like quotes by |
Starting a request from a lot on the market adds that lot's supplier to the recipients automatically.
Note
Requests can only go to suppliers Cairva has verified. If you name a supplier that isn't verified, the request won't send.
Who sees it
A sent request is visible to your organization, the suppliers you invited and Cairva operations. Nobody else can find it. Drafts are visible only to your organization. Each supplier sees the request, not the other suppliers' quotes.
While a request is open you can invite more verified suppliers. An invited supplier can decline with a reason, and you're notified.
Request states
| State | Meaning |
|---|---|
draft | Saved, not sent. Only drafts can be edited |
open | Sent to suppliers, no quote yet |
negotiating | At least one supplier has issued a quote |
awarded | You accepted a quote. Every other open quote on the request closes |
cancelled | You cancelled it. Open quotes on it are withdrawn |
expired | Its delivery window ended while it was still open or negotiating |
How a quote is built
A supplier opens a deal room on your request, where either side can post messages. A firm quote is a full set of terms the supplier issues from one of their active inventory lots. Cairva rejects a quote unless it fits that lot:
- the model matches the lot's route and the capacity class matches the lot
- the delivery window sits inside the lot's window
- requests per minute, tokens per minute and concurrency are within the lot's limits
- the region is the route's region
- the lot has enough unreserved input and output tokens
- settlement matches the route: sandbox lots settle as sandbox, no charge, live lots settle by external invoice
Terms on every quote
| Term | What it means |
|---|---|
| Model, capacity class | What runs and what kind of capacity it is |
| Input tokens, output tokens | The allowance the allocation will hold |
| Window start and end (UTC) | When requests are served |
| Requests / min, tokens / min, max concurrency | Limits the gateway enforces |
| Region | Where the route runs |
| Input and output price per 1M tokens | In USD |
| Settlement | External invoice, or sandbox with no charge |
| Overage | Always hard_stop: requests stop when the allowance is used |
| Cancellation, under-delivery remedy | The supplier's written terms |
| Expiry | When this version stops being acceptable. It can't be later than the window end |
The total price is input tokens times the input price per million, plus output tokens times the output price per million.
Supplier identity
A supplier can choose not to disclose its name when quoting. You'll see Verified supplier until you accept, and the name is disclosed on acceptance.
Next: Negotiation.