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‘Session time limit reached’ (sessions have a time limit)

You might be here because: “Session time limit reached” · “This session reached its maximum running time” · “session stops after 20 minutes” · “max_duration” · “is there a time limit on sessions” · “session ended after 30 minutes” · “trial_session_limit” · “trial_time_used” · “This trial session reached its 20-minute limit” · “Your trial’s session time is used up” · “trial_session_time_used” · “Your trial’s 2 hours of session time are used up”

Short answer

The session ran for as long as a single session may run, or the trial ran out of session time, and it was closed. On the free trial a session runs for up to 20 minutes, and the trial includes 2 hours in total of session time, counted from the day the trial starts. Both limits apply to every trial session — desktop app, API and SDKs. The session is told the limit when it starts, and Driftstack also closes a session that is still running within about two minutes of the mark. No paid plan limits how much session time you use, but a session does not run for ever: one that no AI agent drives runs for up to 4 hours — see below. Launch the profile again to continue while the trial has time left — a profile’s cookies and logins are saved when it closes.

Check first

  • Which plan are you on? The Trial caps each session at 20 minutes, and its sessions share 2 hours of session time in total. No paid plan has a session-time total, and its sessions keep running up to a set time: 4 hours for a session that no AI agent drives.
  • Which reason did the session close with? On the Trial, closed_reason is trial_session_limit when the session reached 20 minutes, and trial_time_used when the trial’s 2 hours ran out during it. max_duration is the 4-hour limit on a paid plan for a session that no AI agent drives (below).
  • The desktop app’s recap says which. trial_session_limit: “This trial session reached its 20-minute limit — Each trial session runs for up to 20 minutes. Start a new session while your trial has session time left, or choose a plan at app.driftstack.io.” trial_time_used: “Your trial’s session time is used up — Your trial’s 2 hours of session time ran out, so this session was closed. Paid plans have no hour limit (fair use). Run up to a paid plan’s number of profiles at once, one session after another. Choose a plan at app.driftstack.io. We keep your profiles, proxies and settings for 30 days after your trial ends.” max_duration: “Session time limit reached — This session reached its maximum running time.”.

Likely causes and fixes

  1. The Trial. A trial session is closed at 20 minutes (trial_session_limit) so the Trial stays an evaluation plan. A new trial session runs for 20 minutes or for what is left of the 2 hours, whichever is shorter. Launch the profile again to carry on, or move to a paid plan, where a session that no AI agent drives runs for up to 4 hours: open the dashboard → Billing → Choose a plan (self-serve). Scale and Enterprise, refunds, disputed charges and “I paid but the plan is not active” are handled by a person.

  2. The trial’s 2 hours are used up. A session still running when they run out is closed (trial_time_used), and every new session is refused with HTTP 429 tier-limit, code: "trial_session_time_used": “Your trial’s 2 hours of session time are used up, so no new session can start. Paid plans have no hour limit (fair use). Run up to a paid plan’s number of profiles at once, one session after another. Choose a plan in your dashboard to keep going. We keep your profiles, proxies and settings for 30 days after your trial ends.” The desktop app shows “Your trial’s 2 hours of session time are used up. Choose a plan at app.driftstack.io to keep running sessions. We keep your profiles, proxies and settings for 30 days after your trial ends.” The 2 hours are counted from the day the trial starts, not per calendar month, so they do not come back. Fix: choose a plan from the dashboard → Billing → Choose a plan. Nothing in your profiles is lost.

  3. The 4-hour limit on a paid plan. On a paid plan a session that no AI agent drives (started in the desktop app, or from code with POST /v1/sessions or a profile launch) runs for up to 4 hours, then closes with max_duration. The limit is set by the mode the session was created in (manual), not by who drives it afterwards. If a session created that way closed with this reason on a paid plan, this is the cause; launch again. AI and pair sessions are not sent this limit, but they are not open-ended: they close when left idle (idle_timeout), when the token budget runs out (budget-exhausted) or when you close them, and any session still open about 12 hours after it started is closed (orphaned-lifetime).

If it still fails

If a paid-plan session closes with this reason well before 4 hours, press Talk to a person in this chat (or open Help) and include the session id and times.