Limits
Every limit you can actually run into — attachment sizes, how many questions it may ask, the ceilings on a single turn, and what has no limit at all.
The bounds you can hit in normal use, in one place — because they otherwise turn up one at a time, in an error message, mid-job. Every number here is enforced. Read the Scope column as carefully as the number beside it: it says whether a limit applies to a file, a turn, a run, a handed-off task, an assistant or your whole account, and the Glossary defines each of those words in one line if the difference between them is not already obvious.
Attachments
Section titled “Attachments”The two attachment paths have different limits, and the gap matters. See Giving it materials for which one to use.
| What | Limit | Scope |
|---|---|---|
| Files attached to a chat message | 5 files | per run |
| Size of each of those files | 5 MB | per file |
| Types accepted in a chat | Text, Markdown, CSV, JSON, source files, PDF, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, images | per file |
| Files attached to a handed-off task | 5 files | per run |
| Text attached to a handed-off task | 100 KB | total across all files |
| Types accepted on a task | Plain text only — no PDF, Office file or image | per file |
Two behaviours worth knowing. Picking more than five files in a chat keeps the first five and says nothing — check what is listed before you send. Attaching a PDF or an image to a task is refused up front, and told why: those formats run in a live chat.
Questions it may ask you mid-run
Section titled “Questions it may ask you mid-run”| What | Limit | Scope |
|---|---|---|
| Rounds of questions it may put to you | 3 | per run |
Once those three rounds are spent, the ability to ask is withdrawn for the rest of that run — it proceeds on what it has, or stops. A round can carry several questions at once, so three rounds is more than three questions. It is also why a vague opening message costs you: it spends a round getting to where a clearer one would have started. See When it checks with you.
A scheduled run gets none of these — see Recurring work.
| What | Limit | Scope |
|---|---|---|
| Spend limit on a handed-off task | $0.50 default; $0 – $5.00 when you create it | per task |
| Raising a task’s limit mid-run | No ceiling, but it must be higher than the current one | per task |
| Standing default in Settings | $0.10 / $0.50 / $1.00 / $5.00 | applies to new tasks |
| Minimum top-up | $1, whole dollars | per top-up |
These are budgets you choose, not prices — the same limit buys different amounts of work on different engines. Spending limits covers what the limit does not do; Model prices has the rates.
Ceilings on a single turn
Section titled “Ceilings on a single turn”Separately from any limit you set, one turn of a conversation has fixed ceilings. When one is reached the turn stops, names the ceiling it hit, and says “You were only charged for the work that actually ran. Ask me to continue and I’ll pick up from what’s already done.”
| What | Limit | Scope |
|---|---|---|
| Working time | 5 minutes | per turn |
| Cost | $0.50 | per turn |
| Size of the work in one turn | 500,000 tokens | per turn |
| Steps it may take | 20 | per turn |
Asking it to continue is the intended move; it resumes from what already exists rather than starting over.
Things you build
Section titled “Things you build”| What | Limit | Scope |
|---|---|---|
| Things you taught it | 20 | per account |
| Total size of all of them | 4 MB | per account |
| Reference files in one of them | 8 files, 128 KB each | per Add-on |
| Its instructions | 32 KB | per Add-on |
| Assistant name | 60 characters | per assistant |
| Assistant instructions | 2,000 characters | per assistant |
| Files attached to an assistant | 5 files, 500 KB each | per assistant |
| Instruction for a recurring task | 2,000 characters | per schedule |
There is no limit on how many assistants you create, or how many apps you connect. See Assistants and Add-ons.
Documents it opens and writes
Section titled “Documents it opens and writes”When a file is too big or too long, the run says so rather than truncating it quietly: 5 MB in or out for most conversions, and — inside that — 200 pages of PDF, 200 slides, 50 sheets or 50,000 rows of spreadsheet, and 20,000 paragraphs of a Word document.
Elsewhere
Section titled “Elsewhere”A single dictation runs up to 150 seconds, warning you ten seconds before it stops on its own. The Tasks and Chats lists each show your most recent 100 entries.
What has no limit
Section titled “What has no limit”Worth stating, because their absence changes how you can use Else:
- No cap on message length. Write as much context as the job needs.
- No cap on how many tasks you run, at once or in total.
- No rate limit. You cannot be throttled for working quickly.
- No expiry on your balance, and none on a share link — it stays live until you revoke.
- No automatic deletion of your history.