# What does an agent's credit budget limit?

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HELP CENTER · FAQ Agent 2 min read
# What does an agent's credit budget limit?
An agent budget sets a credit threshold for the whole run. IaGenify counts model usage and reported tool costs, including work performed by subagents, then stops before starting another step once the threshold has been reached.
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## How the run budget is counted
The budget applies to the run as a whole rather than to each individual model reply. Tool calls contribute when they report a credit cost, and a subagent uses the same shared budget as its parent. This makes the limit useful for controlling a multi-step task whose cost includes research, file work, and other tools.
The agent checks the amount spent between steps. A single step that is already underway can bring the total to or beyond the configured threshold; the limit prevents the next step from starting. For that reason, treat the budget as a stopping threshold, not a promise that the final total can never cross it by the cost of one operation.
## Choose a limit that fits the task
Give a small budget to a narrow lookup or a first-pass review, and allow more room when the agent must inspect many sources or iterate on a complex change. Pair the budget with a sensible step limit: the budget controls credit use, while the step limit controls how many rounds the agent may attempt.
If a run stops for budget, review the work and outputs already produced before raising the limit. You can continue with a focused follow-up that names the remaining work, or start a new run with a larger budget when the unfinished steps justify the added cost. A budget does not make a task succeed automatically; it gives the run a defined spending boundary. [← Back to Agent FAQs](https://help.iagenify.com/faqs/agent)