# Understand AI assistant allowances

Learn why the assistant has daily and short-term limits, when access returns, and how to read the usage-limit notice.

Canonical: https://docs.lead-knight.com/en/billing/assistant-allowance/

## Daily and short-term limits

The assistant has both a daily allowance and a shorter rolling-window limit. The daily allowance resets at midnight in the workspace's local time zone, not necessarily your device's midnight. Interactive conversations also have a rolling three-hour limit: recent activity stops counting as it leaves that window.

The allowance covers AI work and outbound assistant messages, so the number of requests you typed is not the whole usage measure. Long or involved work can use more allowance than a short exchange. Scheduled AI work and interactive chat do not use every allowance in exactly the same way. Exact quantities can depend on the plan's usage policy; this guide does not promise a fixed number of prompts or tokens.

## What the notice means

When a limit is reached, the conversation can show **Assistant usage limit reached**. It identifies whether the daily or three-hour budget for AI work or outbound messages is responsible. If a reply is already being produced, the notice explains **The current reply can finish. New requests are paused.** That does not grant unlimited further actions.

The notice gives the time you can send new requests again. If daily and rolling limits both apply, both must clear; reaching local midnight does not necessarily remove a still-active rolling limit. Use the displayed availability time.

The usage panel appears for a reached limit. Do not rely on receiving an advance warning before every limit or on a permanent remaining-allowance meter.

## What to do when paused

1. Read the limiting category and availability time in the conversation.
1. Let a current reply finish. New requests stay paused while the applicable restriction remains.
1. After the displayed availability time, choose **Refresh usage** if needed. That action is disabled while a reply is streaming.
1. If availability is still being checked, refresh again later rather than repeatedly sending the same request.

Refreshing checks the state; it does not buy more allowance or reset the day. Starting another conversation does not itself bypass the usage policy. A usage pause is not a subscription payment failure.

## Time zone and other notifications

If the reset time seems wrong, check the workspace time zone in [Settings](https://docs.lead-knight.com/en/settings/overview/). Email and WhatsApp notification preferences are also there. CRM notifications and reminders have their own WhatsApp allowances; their delivery rules are not the same as sending another assistant-chat reply.

## If something seems wrong

- A daily pause is still present after your phone's midnight: compare against the workspace's time zone and the availability time shown.
- A short-term pause lasts beyond the oldest recent message: enough usage must leave the rolling window, not just one message.
- The notice cannot refresh: check connectivity and use **Refresh usage** again when no reply is streaming.
- A light-looking conversation used more than expected: AI work and outbound replies are counted, not just your incoming prompts. If the displayed restriction persists unexpectedly, ask support to investigate the actual usage.

## Related pages

- [AI assistant](https://docs.lead-knight.com/en/assistant/overview/)
- [Billing overview](https://docs.lead-knight.com/en/billing/overview/)
- [Settings](https://docs.lead-knight.com/en/settings/overview/)