# Set Your Own Spending Limit

Rate Limits is where you set your own spending brake, and see every other limit that shapes what your workforce can do.

## TL;DR

Your spending limit is **off by default**. Turn it on and your workforce pauses once it has spent a set number of credits in a day, week, month, or hour, then carries on when that period refreshes. It never touches your plan credits, it only paces how fast you use them. Everything on the page is yours to change or switch off at any time.

## What the Spending Limit Does

Think of it as a speed limit, not a fuel tank. Your plan decides how many credits you get. The spending limit decides how fast your team is allowed to burn through them.

When your workforce reaches the limit you set:

- Work in progress **finishes**. Nothing is thrown away mid-task.
- New work waits until the period refreshes.
- Your employee tells you in chat, with a link straight back to this page.
- You get a notification and an email, both with the same link.
- **Your plan credits are untouched.** Nothing has run out and there is nothing to buy.

## Turning It On

The limit is off until you switch it on. Once you do, you pick two things:

| Setting | What it means |
|---------|---------------|
| **Stop after** | How many credits your workforce may spend in one period. |
| **Credits per** | The period: per hour, per day, per week, or per month. |

If you leave the number blank, we pick one for you: roughly double your plan's steady pace, so ordinary work never reaches it. The field is marked **Using our number** so you can tell at a glance that nothing is waiting on you.

The smallest limit you can set is 100 credits. That floor exists so you cannot accidentally lock yourself out of a plan you paid for. To remove the limit entirely, switch it off rather than setting it to zero.

## Working Out What to Set

You should never have to guess. Under the field, the page shows you three things:

1. **How many credits you have left** and how much of the month is left to spend them in.
2. **How long your number lasts**, if you spent all of it every single period.
3. **A suggestion**, when your own number does not fit: the pace that spreads what you have left evenly across the rest of the month.

If you set a number so tight that your credits would run out before the month does, the page says so and offers the pace that would not. If you set one so tight that credits would expire unused, it says that too. Either way the number that fixes it is right there.

This only appears for numbers you chose. The default we pick is a ceiling meant to sit above normal use, not a pace anyone is expected to spend every day, so there is nothing to warn you about.

## Periods Reset on the Clock, Not on a Timer

Periods are calendar-aligned in UTC, so a daily limit refreshes at midnight UTC, a weekly one on Monday, a monthly one on the 1st. The page tells you exactly when your current period ends.

## Need More Right Now

When you hit the limit and the work cannot wait, you have three ways out, all on the same page:

1. **Release this period's extra allowance.** One click doubles the limit for the current period only, then it reverts by itself. There is nothing to remember to switch back.
2. **Change the number.** Raise it and your workforce carries on immediately.
3. **Switch the limit off.** Only your plan's credit allowance applies from then on.

Releasing the extra allowance costs nothing and grants nothing: your plan credits are unchanged, so spending faster now genuinely leaves less for later.

## When You Hear About It

| Moment | What happens |
|--------|--------------|
| **80% of the period used** | A heads-up notification. Nothing is paused yet. |
| **Limit reached** | A notification, an email, and a message in chat from the employee that paused. Each one links here. |

You hear about each of these once per period, so a busy day cannot turn into a stream of alerts.

## The Other Limits on This Page

Below your spending limit, the page lists everything else that bounds your workforce, and where you stand against each one.

| Group | What it covers |
|-------|----------------|
| **Your plan** | Credits included, and how many emails your employees can send. Receiving email is always unlimited. |
| **Your workforce** | How many employees you can have hired at once. |
| **You control** | Actions per turn, teammates working at once, delegation depth, and how long a delegated teammate may work. These live on the AI Models page, and each row links straight to the right control. |
| **Fixed** | Model calls per turn and time per turn. Hard walls against a runaway loop, set generously enough that real work sits well under them. |

Every number on the page is read from the system that actually enforces it, so what you see is what applies.

## FAQ

### Does the spending limit save me money?

No, and it is not meant to. It paces spend inside the plan you already have. Your bill is set by your plan and any credit packs you buy.

### Will it stop a task halfway through?

No. The check happens before new work starts, never in the middle of a turn. A task that begins under the limit is allowed to finish, even if it ends up over. Stopping mid-task would waste the credits already spent on it.

### I never set a limit and my work paused. Why?

Before 3 August 2026 the limit shipped switched on, at a number derived from your plan. It is now off by default and existing accounts that never chose a number have been released. If you want the brake back, switch it on and pick your own number.

### Does it apply per employee or to my whole workspace?

To the whole workspace. It is one brake across everything your team does.

### What happens to it when I change plans?

If you left the number blank, the derived limit follows your new plan on its own. If you typed a number, it stays exactly as you set it.