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Incentive Pool

The Incentive Pool is the host-side funding surface — what stages reward currency before it's attached to individual Actions. It's where a Space's reward economy starts: the host loads the pool with Credits, configures distribution rules, and the pool then pays out to participants as Actions complete.

If Credits are the unit and Reward Points are the participant-side outcome, the Incentive Pool is the host-side container that ties the two together.

Where the Incentive Pool lives​

Each Space has its own Incentive Pool, attached as an optional App. Find it at:

/spaces/:space_id/apps/incentive-pool

This is also accessible from the Space's Apps panel (/spaces/:space_id/apps) — install the Incentive Pool app card if it isn't already in your installed apps. (See Space Apps → Incentive Pool for the host's app-installation tour.)

How the pool is configured​

When you open the Incentive Pool app, you set three things:

  1. Pool size — How many Credits the Space will fund in total. Drawn from your subscription tier's monthly Credit allotment, bounded by the per-Space cap (see Credits).
  2. Per-action allocation — How Credits are subdivided across the Actions in the Space. You can spread them evenly or weight specific Actions more heavily.
  3. Distribution rules — How each Action's allocation pays out to the participants who complete it.

The page shows the pool's current size, current balance (what's left after payouts), and the distribution history — every payout the pool has fired, with timestamps, recipient handles, and amounts.

Distribution rules​

Three distribution patterns are supported today, configurable per Action:

  • Flat split. Every participant who completes the Action gets an equal share. Simple, fast, predictable. Good for Polls and Follow campaigns where contribution depth doesn't vary much.
  • Weighted by participation depth. A long, well-formed Discussion reply earns more than a one-line vote; a Quiz with a high pass rate earns more than one barely passed. The weighting is computed off the Quality Score signal that also feeds your Direct-Activity Index. Good for Discussions and rich Quizzes where contribution quality matters.
  • Staged across phases. Larger pools split across the lifecycle of the Space — N Credits for the first cohort of completers, M for the second wave, etc. Good for Spaces designed to seed early adoption then sustain participation.

The Action's settings panel shows you the per-rule preview: "Average Credit per participant at current participation rate", "Maximum Credit any single participant can earn", etc., so you can tune before launching.

Audit trail​

Every payout the pool fires is logged. The Incentive Pool app shows:

  • Pool funded at — when you initially staged the Credits.
  • Total paid out — sum of every distribution to date.
  • Per-Action paid out — drill into any Action to see exactly which participants received how much, when.
  • Remaining balance — what's left to pay out for ongoing or future Actions.

Both you and your Space's participants can see the totals (participant-level breakdown is host-only). This is by design: a transparent reward economy is easier to trust than an opaque one.

What happens when the pool runs out​

If an Action would pay out more Credits than the pool's remaining balance covers, the platform returns Credits exceed remaining balance and the participant's reward is deferred rather than minted as Points.

Two paths from there:

  • Top up the pool. Allocate more Credits from your monthly cycle balance to the Incentive Pool. Once funded, the deferred payouts mint Points retroactively at the next reconciliation.
  • Adjust distribution rules. Lower the per-participant allocation or switch to a weighted distribution that pays out more sustainably across remaining participants.

The deferred state is rare in practice — the pool's pre-allocated nature means a properly configured Space has already accounted for its expected participation.

Pair with Analyzes for monetized Spaces​

A Space that publishes paid Reports often runs an Incentive Pool alongside the Analyzes app. The pool drives participation, while the Phase 4 Report Revenue Share (10% platform · 60% host · 30% contributors) rewards the contributors whose input made the Report worth selling.

The two feed each other: a well-funded pool pulls richer participation, which makes for a richer Report, which sells better, which feeds the contributor share — a virtuous loop the platform's Phase 4 economy is designed around.