Usage & Limits

Monitor your workspace usage and understand plan limits.

Viewing Usage

Access Usage Dashboard

Navigate to Settings → Usage to see current workspace usage.

Usage Metrics

The usage dashboard shows:

• Users - Active users this billing period
• Files - Total file count
• Storage - Total storage used
• Version History - Days of history retained
• API Calls - API usage (Professional plan+)

Each metric displays:

• Current usage
• Plan limit
• Percentage used
• Warning indicators

User Limits

Active Users

Plans limit the number of active users:

• Starter - 1-2 users
• Professional - 3-25 users
• Business - 10-100 users
• Enterprise - Unlimited

Active user = Anyone who logs in during the billing period

Approaching Limit

At 80% of user limit:

• Warning displayed in usage dashboard
• Email notification to workspace owner
• Prompt to upgrade plan

Exceeded Limit

If you exceed user limit:

• New users cannot be added
• Must upgrade plan or remove users
• Existing users retain access

File Limits

File Count

• Starter - 25 files maximum
• Professional - Unlimited
• Business - Unlimited
• Enterprise - Unlimited

What Counts as a File

Counts toward limit:

• Active files
• Files in trash (until permanently deleted)

Doesn't count:

• Permanently deleted files
• Folders (unlimited on all plans)

Approaching Limit

At 20 files (Starter plan):

• Warning notification
• Prompt to upgrade or delete files

Exceeded Limit

At 25 files (Starter plan):

• Cannot create new files
• Must delete files or upgrade
• Existing files remain accessible

Storage Limits

Storage Allocation

• Starter - 50MB total
• Professional - 5GB per user
• Business - 10GB per user
• Enterprise - Unlimited

What Counts Toward Storage

Included in storage:

• File content
• All version history
• Attachments (coming soon)
• Images in files

Not included:

• Comments
• Audit logs
• User data

Calculate Storage

Example (Professional plan with 5 users):

• 5GB per user × 5 users = 25GB total
• Add user = +5GB storage
• Remove user = -5GB storage

Storage Breakdown

View storage by:

1. Navigate to Settings → Usage
2. Click Storage Breakdown
3. See storage used by:
   • Active files
   • Version history
   • Trash
   • Projects

Approaching Limit

At 80% of storage:

• Warning in usage dashboard
• Email to workspace owner

Exceeded Limit

If storage limit exceeded:

• Cannot create or edit files
• Cannot upload attachments
• Must free storage or upgrade

Free Up Storage

Options to reduce storage:

Empty trash:

• Permanently delete trashed files
• Frees space immediately

Delete old versions:

• Versions outside retention period auto-delete
• Professional: 30 days
• Business: 90 days
• Enterprise: Unlimited

Delete unused files:

• Remove files no longer needed
• Consider exporting first

Upgrade plan:

• Increase storage allocation
• Simplest solution

Version History Retention

Retention Periods

• Starter - 7 days
• Professional - 30 days
• Business - 90 days
• Enterprise - Unlimited

How It Works

Versions older than retention period are:

• Automatically deleted
• Cannot be recovered
• Remove content from storage

Current version always retained regardless of age.

Approaching Retention Limit

When versions approach deletion:

• 7 days before deletion
• 1 day before deletion
• Email notifications

Preserve Important Versions

To keep a version forever:

1. Open version history
2. Find the version
3. Click Pin This Version
4. Version excluded from auto-deletion

Pinned versions:

• Count toward storage
• Retained indefinitely
• Can be unpinned later

API Limits

Professional plans and above include API access.

Rate Limits

Professional:

• 1,000 requests per hour
• 10,000 requests per day

Business:

• 5,000 requests per hour
• 50,000 requests per day

Enterprise:

• Custom rate limits
• Negotiated with sales

Rate Limit Headers

API responses include:

X-RateLimit-Limit: 1000
X-RateLimit-Remaining: 995
X-RateLimit-Reset: 1640000000

Exceeded Rate Limit

When limit exceeded:

• HTTP 429 status returned
• Retry-After header indicates wait time
• Service resumes after limit resets

See API Documentation for details.

Bandwidth Limits

No explicit bandwidth limits on any plan.

Fair use policy applies:

• Reasonable usage expected
• Excessive usage may be throttled
• Contact support if you have high-bandwidth needs

Search Limits

Basic Search (Starter, Professional)

• Search file names and paths
• No limits on search queries
• Results limited to 100 per query

Advanced Search (Business, Enterprise)

• Full-text content search
• AI-powered search
• Results limited to 1,000 per query
• No query rate limits

Workspace Limits

Workspaces Per User

• Unlimited workspaces
• Each workspace billed separately
• Each has own limits

Projects Per Workspace

• Starter - 5 projects
• Professional - Unlimited
• Business - Unlimited
• Enterprise - Unlimited

Folders Per Project

• Unlimited on all plans
• No depth restrictions
• No folder size limits

Usage Alerts

Configure Alerts

1. Navigate to Settings → Usage
2. Click Configure Alerts
3. Set alert thresholds:
   • 50%, 80%, 90%, 95%
4. Select notification recipients
5. Click Save

Alert Notifications

Receive alerts via:

• In-app notifications
• Email
• Slack (if configured)

Usage Reports

Business and Enterprise plans include usage reports.

Generate Report

1. Navigate to Settings → Usage
2. Click Generate Report
3. Select date range
4. Choose metrics to include
5. Click Generate
6. Download as CSV or PDF

Reports include:

• Historical usage trends
• Per-user breakdowns
• Storage growth
• API usage patterns
• Cost projections

Exceeding Limits

14-Day Grace Period

When you exceed your plan limits (after a downgrade or usage increase), Contextium provides a 14-day grace period to give you time to adjust.

During Grace Period (Days 1-14):

• ✅ Full access to all features
• ✅ Can continue working normally
• ⚠️ Yellow warning banner with countdown timer
• ⚠️ Grace period status shown on usage page
• 📧 Email notifications on Day 1, Day 7, and Day 13
• 📊 Clear guidance on what limits are exceeded

After Grace Period Expires (Day 15+):

If you haven't resolved the limit violations, enforcement begins:

CLI & API Restrictions:

• ❌ Contextium CLI completely blocked (403 errors)
• ❌ MCP integration blocked
• ❌ API requests return 403 errors
• ℹ️ Must upgrade or reduce usage to restore access

File Operation Restrictions:

• ❌ Read-only mode activated
• ❌ Cannot create new files
• ❌ Cannot edit existing files
• ❌ Cannot upload files
• ❌ Cannot delete files
• ✅ Can view files and version history

Team Member Restrictions:

• ❌ Excess members automatically suspended
• 👥 Oldest members suspended first (by join date)
• 🛡️ Workspace Owner never suspended
• 📧 Suspended members notified via email
• 🚫 Cannot log in until limit compliance

Immediate Restoration:

Full access restores immediately when you:

1. Upgrade to higher plan

   • All restrictions lifted instantly
   • Suspended members automatically unsuspended
   • CLI/API access restored
   • Files become editable

2. Reduce usage to meet limits

   • Remove excess team members
   • Delete files to meet file limit
   • Free up storage space
   • Once under all limits, restrictions lift automatically

Grace Period Notifications

You'll be notified through multiple channels:

Dashboard:

• Prominent banner at top of every page
• Yellow during grace period
• Red after expiration
• Shows countdown timer
• Lists all exceeded limits

Email Alerts:

• Day 1: Grace period started
• Day 7: One week remaining reminder
• Day 13: Final 24-hour warning
• Day 15: Enforcement has begun

Usage Page:

• Detailed grace period status
• Specific limits exceeded
• Days/hours remaining
• Clear instructions to resolve
• Upgrade button prominently displayed

Slack (if configured):

• Real-time grace period updates
• Notifications when restrictions apply
• Updates when limits resolved

Multiple Limit Violations

If you exceed multiple limits simultaneously:

• Single grace period applies to all violations
• Must resolve all exceeded limits to restore full access
• Dashboard shows all current violations
• Clear checklist of what needs fixing
• Progress updates as you resolve each limit

Example:

• Exceeds users (5/2) and files (30/25)
• 14-day grace period starts
• Must reduce both to restore access
• Partial fixes don't restore access
• Once both fixed, full access returns

Grace Period Reset

The grace period resets in these scenarios:

1. Return to compliance, then exceed again

   • New 14-day grace period starts
   • Countdown begins from new violation

2. Upgrade, then downgrade again

   • Each downgrade gets new grace period
   • Not cumulative across downgrades

3. Multiple limit types

   • Each unique set of violations gets one grace period
   • Timer shows earliest expiration

Hard Limits (No Grace Period)

Some limits have immediate enforcement:

API Rate Limits:

• No grace period
• HTTP 429 immediately when exceeded
• Resets automatically after time period

Concurrent Connections:

• Immediate disconnection of excess connections
• No grace period needed

File Upload Size:

• 5MB per file limit enforced immediately
• Cannot upload oversized files

Upgrade Prompts

When approaching or exceeding limits:

• 80% usage - Warning notifications
• 100% usage - Grace period begins (if applicable)
• Upgrade button - Prominently displayed everywhere
• Plan recommendations - Based on your usage patterns
• Cost calculator - Shows upgrade cost

Plan Recommendations

Based on your usage, Contextium recommends:

• When to upgrade
• Which plan fits your needs
• Cost comparisons
• Feature benefits

View recommendations:

1. Navigate to Settings → Usage
2. See Recommended Plan section
3. Click Learn More for details

Best Practices

Monitor Regularly

• Check usage weekly
• Set up alerts
• Plan for growth
• Upgrade proactively

Optimize Usage

Reduce files:

• Combine related docs
• Archive old content
• Delete drafts

Reduce storage:

• Empty trash regularly
• Unpin old versions
• Compress images

Manage users:

• Remove inactive members
• Use Viewer role when possible
• Audit access quarterly

Plan Ahead

• Monitor growth trends
• Budget for upgrades
• Add users gradually
• Consider annual billing for savings

Next Steps

• Upgrade your plan
• View pricing
• Empty trash
• Manage team members