Client caps
What per-client AI usage limits are, what the defaults are, and how to change them from the Developer console and the Coassemble API.
If your account has multiple clients, each client gets its own monthly figure for AI usage, so you can divide your account allowance across them deliberately rather than leaving it first come, first served. Unless you change your defaults, every new client starts with no cap on narration characters or image generation events. You can change the defaults, and any single client's figure.
Why per-client limits exist
Clients under your account share your account's allowance for narration characters and image generation events. The per-client limit is how you decide each client's share of that pool, and how you see whether one client is set up to consume far more than the rest.
What the defaults are
Unless you have changed your defaults, every new client starts with:
- No cap on narration characters
- No cap on image generation events
No cap means the client has no ceiling of its own and draws freely from your account allowance.
One narration character is one character of generated narration. One image generation event is a single image generation, which produces a set of pictures. Both are counted at the moment of generation, whether or not you publish or keep the result.
How client limits relate to your account allowance
The two layers are tracked independently. Your account has a total allowance for each AI metric, and each client has its own figure underneath it. All clients draw from the same account pool, so the sum of your client figures can exceed what your account actually has.
Every client figure resets on the 1st of each UTC calendar month. On paid plans, the account allowance is a yearly pool that resets on your subscription start date. On Sandbox, the account allowance is a one-time allowance that never resets.
How to change the defaults for new clients
In the Developer console, open the Usage tab and select Edit default usage caps for clients. Enter a Monthly narration cap (characters) and a Monthly image cap, then select Save defaults. You can also change the defaults through the Coassemble API.
- New clients only. Changing the defaults applies to clients created from then on. Existing clients keep their current figures.
- A number, or no cap. Enter a monthly figure, or leave the field empty for no cap. Zero is a real cap, so a client with a zero default can't generate that content until you raise it.
- Owners and admins only in the console. In the Developer console, only workspace Owners and Admins can change the defaults.
To bring existing clients in line, select Apply to all existing clients, next to Save defaults. Once you confirm, every existing client's figures are replaced with your defaults, including any figures you set on an individual client.
You can also turn client caps off for the whole workspace with the Client caps switch on the Usage tab. Your saved figures are kept for when you turn caps back on.
How to set or change a single client's limit
You manage an individual client's limit through the Coassemble API. You can:
- Set a different monthly figure for a client.
- Set a client to no cap so it draws freely from your account-level allowance.
Only the parent account can change these. Clients can't change their own, and visibility sits at the parent account level. For the endpoint and request shape, see the developer documentation.
Seeing per-client usage
The Usage tab in the Developer console lists each client with its narration and image usage. The Per-Client Usage Reporting API returns consumption broken down by client for any time window, so you can build your own dashboards or alerts on top of it. The endpoint shape is in the developer documentation.
This is the reliable way to keep track of distribution across clients, and it's worth setting up an alert rather than checking at the end of the month.
Frequently asked questions
Do Identified Recipients and Anonymous Recipients have client-level limits?
No. Identified Recipient (IR) and Anonymous Recipient (AR) counts are handled at the account level only, and they're measured per year rather than per month. Per-client limits apply to AI usage, meaning narration characters and image generation events, which are both measured per month.
Can I set limits for all my clients in one go?
Yes, to the same figures. Set your defaults, then use Apply to all existing clients to give every client those figures. To give clients different figures from each other, set each one with its own API call.
Can I top up a client that's running low mid-month?
No. Top-ups don't apply at the client level. If a client is running low before the month rolls over, raise its figure or set it to no cap instead.
What happens when the account allowance runs out?
On paid plans, your account allowance is a soft cap. Going past it doesn't block access or generation for your clients. On Sandbox, the allowance is a hard limit: generation stops at the limit for the workspace and every client in it.
The per-client figures you set are a separate thing, and they keep working exactly as described above: they are how you divide your account allowance across your own clients.