Set per-user spend limits

Self-hosted camelAI can cap each user's rolling LLM spend. When a user's settled spend reaches a limit, camelAI denies new LLM pulls for that user until enough usage ages out of the window.

Limits are enforced against tracked usage and managed through the same admin API.

Set limits

A user's limits live at /api/admin/orgs/{ORG_ID}/usage/users/{USER_ID}/limits. GET returns the current limits and each window's spend. PUT replaces the full list:

curl --fail --silent --request PUT \
  --header "Authorization: Bearer ${ADMIN_API_KEY}" \
  --header "Content-Type: application/json" \
  --data '{
    "limits": [
      { "window_hours": 24, "limit_usd": 5, "label": "daily" },
      { "window_hours": 720, "limit_usd": 50, "label": "30-day" }
    ]
  }' \
  "http://127.0.0.1:3001/api/admin/orgs/${ORG_ID}/usage/users/${USER_ID}/limits"

Each limit caps USD spend over the preceding window_hours. A user can have several limits at once, and all of them apply.

Before limiting a user who uses custom model IDs, add pricing overrides for those models. Unpriced usage blocks a limited user entirely.

How enforcement works

camelAI checks limits before accepting each pull, not during one. A pull that was already accepted runs to completion even if it crosses the cap, and concurrent pulls can settle after crossing it, so a user can slightly exceed a limit. Later pulls are denied until enough usage ages out of the window.

Unknown pricing fails closed

For a user with an active limit, camelAI denies a pull when it cannot price the requested model, or when any unpriced usage sits inside an active window. Built-in models are priced automatically, so this mainly affects custom model IDs.

A pricing override makes future pulls for that provider and model eligible, but existing unpriced rows are never repriced. They keep blocking until they age out of every active window or you clear the user's limits.

Clear limits

PUT an empty list to the same endpoint to remove a user's limits:

curl --fail --silent --request PUT \
  --header "Authorization: Bearer ${ADMIN_API_KEY}" \
  --header "Content-Type: application/json" \
  --data '{ "limits": [] }' \
  "http://127.0.0.1:3001/api/admin/orgs/${ORG_ID}/usage/users/${USER_ID}/limits"

Clearing limits also unblocks a user whose active window contains unpriced usage.