No agent can cross these limits.
Spend caps, contact limits, consent, content rules and the stop button hold whatever an agent proposes. They’re checked again when you approve.
Broken tracking holds changes.
When a platform’s conversions stop arriving while its clicks look normal, changes on that platform wait until tracking is fixed. Pauses still go through.
One company’s limits
Every guardrail this coffee roaster runs with, its setting, and who can change it. An agent’s own caps can only be tighter.
| Limit | Setting | Who changes it |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly spend cap | Setting $10,000 across all agents | Who changes it Owners and admins |
| Daily spend cap | Setting $400 across all agents; $275 for the New Customers agent | Who changes it Owners and admins; agent caps only tighter |
| Largest change in one step | Setting 20% of an agent’s total daily budget, up or down | Who changes it Owners and admins: 10%, 20%, 30% or 50% |
| Largest move without approval | Setting 50% of a campaign’s own budget, at the same total | Who changes it Owners and admins: 25% or 50%, set for the company |
| Email per person | Setting 3 a week, across every agent | Who changes it Owners and admins; agent caps only tighter |
| Email quiet hours | Setting Never 9 p.m. to 7 a.m., local time | Who changes it Owners and admins |
| Holdout | Setting 5% of each email audience | Who changes it Owners and admins |
| Banned phrases | Setting healthiest, guilt-free, best coffee in the world | Who changes it Owners and admins |
| Unsubscribes and spam complaints | Setting Always on | Who changes it No one: the law and the platforms require it |
The limits you set
- 1
Spend
Monthly, daily and per-agent caps, a limit on how far one change can move an agent’s daily budget, and approval for large moves between campaigns. This roaster: $10,000 a month, $400 a day, $275 for New Customers, 20% per change.
- 2
Contact
How often one person hears from you, across every agent: messages a week and a day, and the gap between them. Quiet hours, send days and blackout dates decide when a message goes out. Anyone it would break them for gets it later.
- 3
Audiences and consent
Unsubscribes and spam complaints are always left out. You choose which other lists to leave out, such as subscribers or open orders, and whether email needs opt-in. You can also leave out people rated likely to unsubscribe, and a holdout measures each email.
- 4
Content
Banned phrases, in copy from agents and people alike; whether offers are allowed; a source for every figure; brand review before anything goes out; and an unsubscribe link and address in every email.
- 5
One switch pauses every agent
Pause all agents halts every agent at once. Every action they propose is stopped until you resume them. Your campaigns keep running at their last settings in your own accounts.
The stop button: pause every agent at once. Campaigns keep running at their last settings. Pause all agentsPause every agent at once. Campaigns keep running at their last settings.
1,860 first-time buyers, narrowed to 1,376One example, in order
Oct 28 · Reorders agent
Proposes the note to 1,860 customers, holding back 5% to measure how many second orders it brings in.
Oct 28 · Consent
56 people without consent are left out.
Oct 28 · Suppression lists
149 already on a subscription, 19 marked do-not-contact and 37 with an open order or support ticket are removed.
Oct 28 · Frequency and restraint
74 people at a cap of 3 a week are sent to later. 56 rated likely to unsubscribe are left out. The holdout keeps back 93 (5%).
Oct 28 · The rest
Quiet hours: it goes at 9 a.m., and 14 people for whom that is inside 9 p.m. to 7 a.m., their time, get it after. Daily limit and gap: 21 messaged in the last day get it later. Required content (the unsubscribe link and the postal address), banned phrases, figures and brand review all pass. Who gets it: 1,376 of 1,860 people. Sending email is set to You approve, so it waits for you.
Who can change each limit
Defaults come from the platform and your playbook. You change them for the company, and an agent’s own caps can only be tighter.
No change to an agent’s daily budget over 20%Company setting: 10%, 20%, 30% or 50%
The default, up or down. Larger moves happen in smaller steps, each checked on its own.
Large moves between campaigns wait for youCompany setting, “Largest move without approval”: 25% or 50%
Moving budget between an agent’s campaigns leaves its total unchanged, so it’s checked separately: if any campaign moves more than 50% of its own budget, a person approves it, whatever the permission level.
Daily and monthly capsCompany setting; agent caps only tighter
A raise that would take the daily total over the cap is stopped. Once the month’s spend reaches the monthly cap, every raise is stopped, and cuts still go through.
Three messages a week per person, by defaultCompany setting; agent caps only tighter
Across every agent and channel. People already at the cap get it once they’re under it, and the proposal says how many.
A limit narrows a send instead of cancelling itFixed
Consent, suppression lists and contact limits take people out of an email rule by rule, with a count for each, and everyone else still gets it: 1,376 of 1,860 on the running-low note.
Some suppressions can’t be switched offAlways on
Unsubscribes, spam complaints, and SMS to anyone not opted in to texts are always on.
Targeting stays within the rulesCompany setting
Ads about housing, credit or employment run as a special ad category. A minimum audience size keeps targeting from narrowing to individuals.
A check that couldn’t run says soFixed
If a check couldn’t be measured, the proposal shows “Not checked yet”, never a pass.
When limits meet
What happens when a limit changes while a proposal waits?
The new limit applies. Approving runs every limit again, just before the change is made.
What happens when the month’s cap is reached?
Every budget raise is stopped, with the reason that this month’s spend has reached your cap. Cuts and pauses still go through.
What happens when you pause all agents?
Every action any agent proposes is stopped. Nothing is reversed: your campaigns keep running at their last settings, in your accounts, until you change them or resume the agents.
What happens when one agent’s cap is looser than the company’s?
It can’t be. An agent’s own spend and contact caps can only be tighter, so the company’s cap always holds.
Where do the defaults come from?
From the platform and the playbook for your kind of business, such as 20% per change to an agent’s daily budget and three messages a week per person. A company can loosen or tighten them; an agent’s own caps can only tighten them.
Can an agent raise its own cap?
No. Agents can only propose actions on your accounts. Only a person can change a guardrail, and the change is recorded with who made it and when.
Set your limits once. They hold every time.
Your work email is all we need to start.