Create a cumulative budget for cost or tokens with optional alerts and weekly or monthly resets. conditions and group_by are required; use rate limits when you need request throttling.
AI agents use create_usage_limit to create or update resources in Portkey Admin — usually the action step of a workflow, after the agent has gathered context. Every call changes real data in your Portkey Admin environment.
| Parameter | Type | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
name | string | — | Optional name for the usage limit |
type | string | Yes | What to limit: 'cost' (in dollars) or 'tokens' |
group_by | array | Yes | Array of fields to group the usage limit by (e.g., ['virtual_key'], ['api_key', 'user_id']) |
conditions | array | Yes | Array of conditions that determine which requests this usage limit applies to |
credit_limit | number | Yes | The maximum allowed usage (cost in dollars or token count) |
workspace_id | string | — | Workspace ID to scope the limit to |
periodic_reset | string | — | Automatically reset usage counters on this schedule |
alert_threshold | number | — | Percentage threshold (0-100) at which to send an alert |
organisation_id | string | — | Organisation ID to scope the limit to |
Parameters from the server's own tool schema.
An AI agent can call create_usage_limit faster than any human can review — one bad instruction and it creates or modifies resources in Portkey Admin by the hundred, each call as confident as the last.
Risk signalsHigh parameter count (12 properties)
Attacks that exploit this kind of access
Create a cumulative budget for cost or tokens with optional alerts and weekly or monthly resets. conditions and group_by are required; use rate limits when you need request throttling. It is categorised as a Write tool in the Portkey Admin MCP Server, which means it can create or modify data. Consider rate limits to prevent runaway writes.
create_usage_limit accepts 9 parameters: name, type, group_by, conditions, credit_limit, workspace_id, periodic_reset, alert_threshold, organisation_id. Required: type, group_by, conditions, credit_limit. The full parameter table on this page comes from the server's own tool schema.
Register the Portkey Admin MCP server in PolicyLayer and add a rule for create_usage_limit: allow, deny, rate-limit, or require approval. Point your MCP client at the PolicyLayer proxy URL and the rule is enforced on every call, before it reaches Portkey Admin. Nothing to install.
create_usage_limit is a Write tool with medium risk. Write tools should be rate-limited to prevent accidental bulk modifications.
Yes. Add a rate_limit block to the create_usage_limit rule in your PolicyLayer policy. For example, setting max: 10 and window: 60 limits the tool to 10 calls per minute. Rate limits are tracked per agent session and reset automatically.
Set action: deny in the PolicyLayer policy for create_usage_limit. The AI agent will receive a policy violation error and cannot call the tool. You can also include a reason field to explain why the tool is blocked.
create_usage_limit is provided by the Portkey Admin MCP server (CodesWhat/portkey-admin-mcp). PolicyLayer sits as a proxy in front of this server to enforce policies before tool calls reach the server.