Does a key cap protect the rest of my account?

Yes. A capped-out key stops spending on its own; your account balance and other keys are untouched. Raise the cap deliberately when the work earns it.

Can I cap a chat too?

Yes, separately: a chat can carry a credit spend limit, enforced with the credit_spend_limit_exceeded code. Key caps bound code you run outside idapt; chat limits bound agent runs in the workspace.

Is there a limit for the whole account?

Yes, separately: Billing, under Spending limits, sets a daily, weekly, and monthly ceiling over everything the account pays for. Those hit spend_limit_* codes and you can raise or turn off each window yourself.

Cap what an API key spends

A key you hand to an agent is a blank check unless something bounds it. In idapt, the bound lives on the key itself: a hard USD cap, enforced on every metered endpoint across all three compatible APIs.

Three cap windows

Window	What it bounds
Lifetime	A fixed total the key can ever spend. The classic one-project budget: when it is gone, the key stops.
Monthly	Resets on the calendar month. Fits recurring agents and team members with a steady allowance.
Daily	Resets daily. The tight leash for experiments and untrusted automation.

What hitting a cap looks like

Requests on a capped-out key fail with HTTP 402. The account may still have budget; this key does not. On the OpenAI-compatible gateway:

{
  "error": {
    "message": "This API key's spend limit has been reached.",
    "type": "rate_limit_error",
    "code": "key_limit_exceeded"
  }
}

The Anthropic-compatible gateway returns the same condition as an error.error.type: "rate_limit_error" payload. This is distinct from credit_spend_limit_exceeded, which is a chat's own credit spend limit, not a key cap.

The agent-budget pattern

Mint one key per agent or project, named after it, with a cap that matches its job.
Hand the agent that key only. The cap is the blast radius: a runaway loop stops at the cap, not at your account budget.
Watch per-key usage in the workspace Gateway tab; raise the cap deliberately when the work earns it.

Caps and BYOK

Spend caps apply to keys that bill your idapt balance. BYOK connections are exempt: they bill the provider with your own API key and write $0 usage rows, so a USD cap on idapt's ledger has nothing to bound.

FAQs

API keys and scopes

Create a key, choose its scopes, pin it to an API version, rotate it, and cap what it can spend.

Rate limits and errors

Every error shape the API returns, what each rate limit is, and how to handle a wall in code.

Up next

OpenRouter-compatible API

Point OpenRouter client code at idapt: same wire shape, provider routing, model fallbacks, and key management included.

Was this helpful?

Three cap windows

Window

What it bounds

Lifetime

A fixed total the key can ever spend. The classic one-project budget: when it is gone, the key stops.

Monthly

Resets on the calendar month. Fits recurring agents and team members with a steady allowance.

Daily

Resets daily. The tight leash for experiments and untrusted automation.

What hitting a cap looks like

Requests on a capped-out key fail with HTTP 402. The account may still have budget; this key does not. On the OpenAI-compatible gateway:

{
  "error": {
    "message": "This API key's spend limit has been reached.",
    "type": "rate_limit_error",
    "code": "key_limit_exceeded"
  }
}

{
  "error": {
    "message": "This API key's spend limit has been reached.",
    "type": "rate_limit_error",
    "code": "key_limit_exceeded"
  }
}

{ "error": { "message": "This API key's spend limit has been reached.", "type": "rate_limit_error", "code": "key_limit_exceeded" } }

The agent-budget pattern

Mint one key per agent or project, named after it, with a cap that matches its job.

Hand the agent that key only. The cap is the blast radius: a runaway loop stops at the cap, not at your account budget.

Watch per-key usage in the workspace Gateway tab; raise the cap deliberately when the work earns it.