Usage limits

Corvid checks your usage before it starts a new agent. Above a limit you set, it asks you first, or it does not start the agent at all. Agents that already run keep going in both cases.

The check exists because several agents at once can use up a 5-hour window fast. An agent that reaches your plan's real limit can stall partway through its work.

The two gates#

A gate is passed when usage is at or above its number. Each gate has its own switch. A gate that is off shows no limit.

The weekly gate also covers Fable. When the new agent runs on Fable and your plan has a separate Fable weekly limit, Corvid compares that limit with the same weekly number. Agents on other models never count the Fable limit.

What starts are checked#

Every way an agent starts goes through the check:

• Automate on a task
• Corvid's start_worker tool
• Approving a proposed worker in the Agents view
• Resuming an agent when you mention it on the board
• The queue that starts a worker when a slot is free
• The packaging wizard for extensions

Waking an agent that already runs is not a new start, so it is not checked.

Above the limit: Ask me first#

Ask me first is the default. When a gate is passed, Corvid shows a dialog called Usage limit in its window. If the window is hidden or not focused, a desktop notification also asks you to answer.

The dialog shows:

• Both gates, with their numbers and which one is passed.
• The Fable number, when the agent runs on Fable and that limit is passed.
• When the 5-hour window resets.
• A warning that agents started now can stall when you reach your plan's limit.

To answer it:

1. Read which gate is passed.
2. Click Start anyway to start the agent, or Cancel to start nothing.
3. Optional: before you click Start anyway, select Don't ask again until usage resets. Corvid then starts agents without asking until the 5-hour window resets. If the reset time is not known, it stops asking for 1 hour. A restart of Corvid forgets this choice.

After Start anyway, the agent starts and the board gets a notice that it started above the usage limit.

When two agents start at once, you get one dialog for each, one after the other.

Above the limit: Block new agents#

With Block new agents, Corvid does not start a new agent while a gate is passed. It does not ask. The reason shows where you started the agent, for example: "5-hour usage is at 72%, at or above the 70% limit for starting workers."

When usage is unknown#

If the usage check fails, Corvid does not know your usage. With Ask me first it asks, and the dialog says the usage is unknown. With Block new agents no new agent starts until the check works again. To try again, click Refresh quota on the Usage page.

If the last check failed but an older one exists, the dialog uses the older numbers and says how old they are.

Change the limits#

1. Open Settings → Usage limits.
2. To turn the whole check off, switch off Usage limit for new agents. The gates and Above the limit are hidden, and new agents start whatever your usage is.
3. To change a gate, type a number from 5 to 100 in Limit at 5-hour usage or Limit at weekly usage, then press Enter or click outside the field.
4. To turn one gate off, click its switch. The row shows no limit.
5. In Above the limit, choose Ask me first or Block new agents.

The change applies to the next agent that starts.