Definition
A token budget is an explicit allocation or ceiling for token consumption across a stated boundary, such as a request, run, accepted task, user, workflow, team, or billing period. A useful budget states which input, output, reasoning, cache, retry, and subagent usage counts, and what happens as the boundary approaches.
Distinguish it from nearby terms
A maximum-output setting caps one response. A rate limit controls consumption per time window. A financial budget caps money. A token budget governs model-processing volume and may be converted imperfectly into either of the others.
Check your understanding
Attach a warning threshold, hard stop, escalation path, and exception owner instead of treating the budget as a dashboard number.