Call budgets and limits
Short answer: each person may make 60 tool calls a minute and send 1,000 PSA requests an hour; the whole MSP may send 2,000 PSA requests an hour. The budgets refill steadily. When one runs out, the AI is told how many seconds or minutes to wait and what to do instead, and the audit log records which budget it was.
Why budgets exist
Vendors limit API use per company and share that limit with every integration you run (Autotask allows 10,000 requests an hour per database). One busy AI chat must not use it up for your other tools or your colleagues.
The budgets
| Budget | Limit | What the AI is told | Audit reason |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tool calls per person | 60 a minute | "Too many tool calls at once (limit 60 a minute); wait N seconds before the next call. Then make fewer calls at a time, using one search instead of many single-record lookups." | Too many calls a minute |
| PSA requests per person | 1,000 an hour | "This user has used their hourly share of PSA requests (1000 an hour); more are available in N minutes. Narrow the search or review fewer records at a time." | Member's hourly PSA share used up |
| PSA requests per MSP | 2,000 an hour | "The MSP has used its hourly PSA request budget, shared by all its techs; more are available in N minutes. Wait until then, and narrow the search so it needs fewer requests." | MSP's hourly PSA budget used up |
One tool call sends between 1 and about 20 PSA requests. Retries count too.
Other limits
- Time per call: a PSA request that takes too long is stopped. The AI is told "The PSA took too long to answer, so the request was stopped. Try again shortly, or narrow the search."
- Answer size: lists show 25 results per page (some 10 or 20) and say when more exist; long text is shortened and marked. See Limits reference.
- Unusual activity: separate from budgets, a person pulling far more records than usual can be slowed to one call a minute or paused (once enforced). See AI access.
If your team hits budgets often
- Ask for one search with filters instead of many single-ticket lookups.
- Review records in smaller batches (for example 25 tickets at a time).
- Spread big reviews across people or hours: each person has their own hourly share.
FAQ
Can an admin raise the limits?
Not in the portal. If your MSP needs more, tell us through the contact form.
"The call budget could not be checked, so nothing was run."
StackTether could not reach its own budget counter, so it ran nothing. Try again in about a minute.