---
title: "Limit how many tokens your bot can use"
description: "Cap a bot's daily message token use, get an email before it hits the cap, limit message length, and see what people see when a limit is reached."
canonical_url: "https://chatthing.ai/docs/bot-settings/usage-limits"
last_updated: "2026-09-25"
---

# Limit how many tokens your bot can use

Usage limits stop one bot using up your team's message tokens, whether from a busy day or from someone abusing the chat. When a bot reaches a limit, it replies with an error instead of using more tokens.

**Who can do this:** [team owners and admins](https://chatthing.ai/docs/account/teams#what-each-role-can-do).

## Set a daily token limit

1. Open your bot and go to the **General settings** tab.
2. Scroll to **Usage limits** and turn on **Daily token limit**.
3. In **Daily token limit value**, enter the most message tokens the bot may use in a day (at least 1,000).
4. In **Set an email notification threshold**, enter the usage at which you want an email warning. It must be lower than the daily limit.
5. Check the note below the fields. It shows the share of your plan's monthly message tokens the bot could use if it hit the limit every day, for example "This limit will allow your bot to consume 25% of your plan message tokens over a month."
6. Click **Update bot**.

New limits start at 1,000,000 tokens with a threshold of 750,000.

### How the daily limit works

- The day runs from midnight to midnight **UTC**. Usage resets at the start of each UTC day.
- It counts the message tokens the bot uses on every channel: the website widget, API, Slack, Discord, Telegram, WhatsApp, email, scheduled tasks and tests.
- When the bot's usage passes the notification threshold, every owner and admin in the team gets an email warning that the bot is close to its daily limit, with a **Manage usage limits** button. It's sent at most once a day, and can take up to 30 minutes to arrive.

## Limit message length

Very long messages cost more tokens and can reduce answer quality. New bots reject messages over 6,000 characters.

1. On the **General settings** tab, scroll to **Usage limits**.
2. Turn on **Maximum message length**.
3. Enter the limit in **Maximum characters per message**.
4. Click **Update bot**.

The limit applies to every channel except email. You can also set it from an AI assistant with the [`update_bot` MCP tool](https://chatthing.ai/docs/mcp/tools) (`maxMessageCharLimit` and `maxMessageCharLimitValue`).

## What people see when a limit is reached

| Limit | Website widget | Slack, Discord, Telegram, WhatsApp, email | API |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Daily token limit | "No more chats available. Daily token limit reached for this bot. We've alerted the owner." | "🚨 This bot has reached its daily message token limit." (Discord bots may say "This bot has reached its current usage limit.") | HTTP 429, code `bot_daily_token_limit_reached` |
| Message too long | The message can't be sent, and the widget shows "Your message is too long. Please shorten it to 6000 characters or fewer." (with your limit) | See [troubleshooting](https://chatthing.ai/docs/bot-settings/usage-limits#people-on-slack-or-other-channels-get-no-reply-to-long-messages) | HTTP 429, code `bot_message_char_limit_reached` |
| Team out of message tokens | "No more chats available. All available message tokens have been used up. We've alerted the owner and, hopefully, this will be fixed soon." | "🚨 Your bot has reached its message token limit. Please upgrade your plan." | HTTP 429, code `team_message_token_limit_reached` |

The widget's message-too-long text is translated into the widget's languages; the other widget messages are in English.

The team limit is your plan's monthly message token allowance, shared by all your bots. See [message tokens](https://chatthing.ai/docs/account/message-tokens) for how it resets and how to add more with [add-ons](https://chatthing.ai/docs/account/add-ons).

## Check it works

After saving, the **Usage limits** section shows your values. To test the daily limit without waiting, temporarily set a low value (such as 1,000), send a few messages in the widget, then set it back.

## Troubleshooting

### My bot stopped replying

Check whether the bot hit its daily limit (it resets at midnight UTC) or your team has used its monthly message tokens. Raise the daily limit on the **General settings** tab, or add tokens with [add-ons](https://chatthing.ai/docs/account/add-ons).

### The first message in a new chat shows "Rate limit reached."

If the bot has already hit its daily limit when someone starts a new chat, the widget can show this shorter message instead. The cause and fix are the same as for the daily limit.

### People on Slack or other channels get no reply to long messages

Messages over the length limit are rejected. On some channels the rejection may not be shown to the sender. If your users regularly send long messages on those channels, raise **Maximum characters per message**.

## Related

- [Message tokens and what happens when you run out](https://chatthing.ai/docs/account/message-tokens): What message tokens are, how each message is counted, how model multipliers work, when tokens reset, and what happens when your team runs out.
- [Add more tokens, bots or seats with add-ons](https://chatthing.ai/docs/account/add-ons): Raise one limit on your paid plan without upgrading - extra message tokens, storage tokens, bots, data sources, team members or custom domains.
- [Bot settings reference](https://chatthing.ai/docs/bot-settings/settings-reference): Every setting on your bot's General settings tab - what it does, its default and range, and which plans include it.