Trial Limits¶

AlphaForge operates on two tiers: the Trial plan (no Whop registration, indefinite duration) and the paid plans (one of Lifetime / Annual / Monthly purchased on Whop). The Trial plan is permanently free and caps the maximum data date passed to the evaluation engine (backtest / optimization) at 2023-12-31, limits the optimization trial count to 50 trials, and hard-blocks Pine Script export. This page summarizes the behavior and how to verify it locally.

Targeted commands

Limits are applied along the following code paths:

Data acquisition: forge data fetch / forge data update / forge pine generate --with-training-data / automatic external symbol fetching by strategies (merge_external_symbols)
Evaluation engine entry: forge backtest run / forge optimize (run / grid / walk-forward / cross-symbol)
Optimization trial count: forge optimize run / cross-symbol / portfolio / multi-portfolio / walk-forward / grid
Pine Script export (hard block): forge pine generate / forge pine preview (forge pine import is unaffected)

Both fetch and evaluation share 2023-12-31 as the cap, and the optimization commands share 50 trials as the cap. Pine Script export is fully blocked on the Trial plan.

Plan structure¶

Plan	Whop registration	Data fetch / evaluation date cap	Optimization trial cap	Pine Script	Notes
Trial	Not required	up to 2023-12-31	up to 50 trials	Fully blocked	Usable immediately after install. No time limit. Just run `forge`
Lifetime (one-time)	Required (one-time purchase)	None	None	Unlocked	One-time purchase on Whop. Authenticate via `forge system auth login`
Annual (yearly)	Required (annual subscription)	None	None	Unlocked	Annual subscription on Whop. Always on the latest version
Monthly (monthly)	Required (monthly subscription)	None	None	Unlocked	Monthly subscription on Whop. Use it for as long as you need

Trial vs paid-plan feature comparison card

For pricing and the latest plan details, refer to the landing page. Lifetime, Annual, and Monthly all unlock the same feature set (latest data, unlimited trials, Pine Script export).

About JSON field names

The --json output still embeds structured notices under the field name freemium_limit_notices, and each notice still uses code values like free_tier_*. This is an implementation-level holdover preserved for backwards compatibility through the v0.3.x line. Semantically these mean "Trial plan limits". We may rename the field to trial_limit_notices in a future release; if so, it will be announced in the CHANGELOG.

Behavior¶

Trial plan¶

Data acquisition (`forge data fetch` / `forge data update` / `forge pine generate --with-training-data` / external symbol auto-fetch)¶

Trial plan data date clip diagram

When the end argument (explicit or the today fallback) is later than 2023-12-31, the fetch is forcibly capped at 2023-12-31.
forge data update skips items whose latest cached date is 2023-12-31 or later, citing the Trial plan limit.
Regular CLI output shows a yellow Panel warning along with an upgrade prompt to a paid plan (Lifetime / Annual / Monthly).
--json output includes a structured freemium_limit_notices field (code = "free_tier_data_fetch_clipped").

Evaluation engine entry (`forge backtest run` / `forge optimize`)¶

If the input data contains rows newer than 2023-12-31, they are automatically truncated immediately before evaluation. This acts as a safety net when an external CSV is loaded directly (typically a no-op because the fetch path already cuts these off).
Regular CLI output shows a yellow Panel warning.
--json output uses code = "free_tier_evaluation_date_clipped".

Example freemium_limit_notices from the fetch path:

{
  "freemium_limit_notices": [
    {
      "code": "free_tier_data_fetch_clipped",
      "message": "Trial plan only fetches data up to 2023-12-31. Purchase a paid plan (Lifetime / Annual / Monthly) to fetch newer data.",
      "original_value": "2025-06-30",
      "applied_value": "2023-12-31"
    }
  ]
}

Example freemium_limit_notices from the evaluation path:

{
  "freemium_limit_notices": [
    {
      "code": "free_tier_evaluation_date_clipped",
      "message": "Trial plan only evaluates data up to 2023-12-31. Purchase a paid plan (Lifetime / Annual / Monthly) to evaluate newer data.",
      "original_value": "2025-01-15",
      "applied_value": "2023-12-31"
    }
  ]
}

Optimization trial count (`forge optimize` family)¶

Every variant of forge optimize (run / cross-symbol / portfolio / multi-portfolio / walk-forward / grid) caps the trial count at 50 on the Trial plan. The run does not abort; it proceeds with the capped value.
forge optimize grid randomly samples 50 entries (with a fixed seed for reproducibility) when the combinatorial space exceeds 50. The sample is not a head slice, preserving search-space coverage.
forge optimize walk-forward runs optimization per window internally but consolidates notices into a single CLI message.
forge optimize multi-portfolio aligns the displayed trial count to the effective value (50).
forge optimize apply / history / sensitivity use a different notion of trials and are exempt.
Regular CLI output shows a yellow Panel warning.
--json output uses code = "free_tier_optimization_trial_capped". For grid, the JSON additionally carries total_trials (combinatorial total) and executed_trials (executed = 50).

Example freemium_limit_notices for the optimization trial cap:

{
  "freemium_limit_notices": [
    {
      "code": "free_tier_optimization_trial_capped",
      "message": "Trial plan caps optimization trials at 50. Purchase a paid plan (Lifetime / Annual / Monthly) for unlimited optimization.",
      "original_value": 1000,
      "applied_value": 50
    }
  ]
}

Pine Script export (`forge pine generate` / `forge pine preview`)¶

The Trial plan hard-blocks Pine Script export. Both commands stop immediately—no file output, no stdout payload.
The exit code is 1, accompanied by a red Panel and the purchase URL (https://alforgelabs.com/en/index.html#pricing).
The structured notice freemium_limit_notices uses code = "free_tier_pine_export_blocked" (original_value / applied_value are null).
forge pine import is an import-only feature and remains available on the Trial plan.

Example Pine Script hard-block display (Trial plan / CLI):

╭────────── 🔒 Premium-only feature ──────────╮
│ Pine Script export is available for paid    │
│ plans only (Lifetime / Annual / Monthly).   │
│ Upgrade your license to seamlessly run on   │
│ TradingView.                                 │
│ Upgrade: https://alforgelabs.com/en/index.html#pricing │
╰──────────────────────────────────────────────╯

Example freemium_limit_notices for Pine Script hard block:

{
  "freemium_limit_notices": [
    {
      "code": "free_tier_pine_export_blocked",
      "message": "Pine Script export is available for paid plans only (Lifetime / Annual / Monthly).",
      "original_value": null,
      "applied_value": null
    }
  ]
}

Paid plans (Lifetime / Annual / Monthly)¶

No limits trigger. The latest data, unlimited optimization trials, and full Pine Script export are all available. The output does not carry freemium_limit_notices warnings. Lifetime, Annual, and Monthly all unlock the same feature set.

How to remove the limits¶

To remove the Trial limits, purchase one of the paid plans (Lifetime, Annual, or Monthly). Manually trimming a CSV down to 2023-12-31 does not help (the evaluation engine still applies the truncation regardless).

Paid-plan purchase: complete the checkout for Lifetime / Annual / Monthly on the AlphaForge sales page.
After purchase, run forge system auth login to authenticate via Whop OAuth in your browser.
If the cache does not reflect your membership, run forge system auth login again.

Trial Limits¶

Plan structure¶

Behavior¶

Trial plan¶

Data acquisition (forge data fetch / forge data update / forge pine generate --with-training-data / external symbol auto-fetch)¶

Evaluation engine entry (forge backtest run / forge optimize)¶

Optimization trial count (forge optimize family)¶

Pine Script export (forge pine generate / forge pine preview)¶