Quota Limit Style Guide

• quota: The administrative “bucket.” Use for settings, billing, and requesting increases. (e.g., “Adjust your storage quota.”)
• limit: The real-time numerical “ceiling.” Use for error messages when a user is blocked. (e.g., “You’ve reached your request limit.”)
• When blocked, combine them: Explain the limit that was hit and the quota that is the remedy. (e.g., “You’ve reached the request limit for your developer quota.”)
• Related terms: Use usage for consumption tracking, restriction for fixed rules, and reset for when a limit refreshes.

Detailed Guidelines

Definitions

• Quota is the “what”: It identifies the category of resource being managed (e.g., storage quota, GPU quota, request/prompt quota).
• Limit is the “how much”: It defines the numerical boundary.

Use quota when referring to the administrative concept or the request for more. Use limit when discussing the specific point of exhaustion.

When to use “quota”

Use this term for account management, billing, and settings. It describes the entitlement the user has purchased or been assigned.

Examples:

• Navigation label: Quota and usage
• Contextual help: Your usage quota is managed by your organization. To request an increase, contact your administrator.

When to use “limit”

Use this term for real-time feedback, notifications, and error messages. It identifies the specific wall the user just hit.

Examples:

• Error message: You’ve reached the 50-request-per-minute limit.
• Inline warning: Input exceeds the 32k token limit.

How to use both together

When a user is blocked, combine both terms to explain the event (limit) and the remedy (quota).

Example:

• Heading: Daily usage limit reached
• Body: You’ve reached the maximum daily capacity for your developer quota. To continue working today, upgrade your quota.