Bulk run spend cap: worst-case ceiling for 100 holiday items

The spend cap on a Sume bulk run applies to each item, not to the whole queue. A 100-item queue with generation_spend_cap_usd set to 4 can therefore spend up to $400 in the worst case. The platform maximum per item is $500, a value of 0 is rejected, and null means $500.

Worst case by cap

Multiply the per-item cap by 100 for one queue and by 12 for a 1,200-item catalog. Docs as of 2026-10-08.

Pick the cap from the model price

A cap that is near the model's real cost stops runaway items without cutting good ones. A 5-second Seedance 2.5 clip at 720p 9:16 is $2.889 (0.5778 x 5), so a cap of $4 leaves headroom for one retry-sized variation, while a cap of $2 would cut it. For 5 s on Wan 3.0 at 720p ($0.625), a $1 cap works.

• Cap below the price of one generation: items cannot finish.
• Cap at $500 (or null): no practical protection.
• The cap bounds spend, not queue time.

Other guards

The cap is one guard of three. The wallet reserve at submit and the plan's accepted capacity also limit exposure; see generation admission. Set the cap in the request for each item, review the first queue's real spend, and tighten the cap before you submit the rest.

Worked example

A catalog team plans 1,200 clips of Wan 3.0 at 720p, 5 seconds each, which is $0.625 per clip and $750 in total. With a $1 cap per item the worst case is $1,200 across the catalog, and the expected spend is $750. With a $0.70 cap, items still finish, since $0.625 is below it, and the worst case is $840.

Caps below the generation price mean items fail; caps above it give a ceiling. The right number is the one just above the real price.

• Expected: 1,200 x $0.625 = $750.
• Cap $1: ceiling $1,200.
• Cap $0.70: ceiling $840.

Before you scale

Review real spend after the first queue and tighten the cap before the next one. If the first 100 items average $0.63 each, the queue cost about $63, and a cap of $0.70 keeps every later queue within $70 unless an item runs long. Record the cap with each queue, so that an audit of a catalog run can show the ceiling that applied.