Limits that protect a public site

Searching is the only expensive thing the site does, so it is the only thing that is limited. Browsing and viewing images are not. The defaults suit a small machine:

Setting	Default	Meaning
max_upload_mb	10	Largest image a visitor may search with
searches_per_minute	60	Searches one visitor may run per minute. 0 turns this off
concurrent_searches	2	Searches that use the model at once. Others wait up to 15 seconds, then are asked to try again
proxy_hops	0	Proxies in front of the site that add the visitor’s address to X-Forwarded-For. Leave at 0 unless there is one, or visitors could pose as each other

A visitor who is turned away is told why, in plain words. Searches from AI assistants through the MCP server count against the same limits.

To change a limit, put it in settings.json next to the index, or run one of these. The site picks it up without a restart.

DCE_DATA_DIR=data/collections/my-collection python -m src.backend.core.site_settings max_upload_mb=20
sudo deploy/bootstrap.sh configure --name my-collection --set max_upload_mb=20
deploy/aws/configure.sh my-collection --set max_upload_mb=20