---
title: "Change a card's daily limit"
description: "Raise or lower how much a card can spend per day. Send the card's current status with the new limit."
---
Use this recipe to raise or lower how much a card can spend per day. You send the card's current status with the new limit.

**Who it is for.** A consumer app that lets Ada raise her limit for a trip, or an expense platform that caps a driver's daily spend.

**Status.** Available.

## Money example

Ada's card has a 300 USD daily limit and 900 USD on it.

1. Ada travels and must pay a 750 USD hotel bill. You raise the limit to 1,000 USD a day.
2. Ada pays 750 USD. The card now holds 150 USD.
3. After the trip, you set the limit back to 300 USD a day.

<Warning>
`PATCH /v1/cards/{card_id}/update` sets the status and the limit in one body. An update **without** `limit` saves the limit as 0. In live, the card then declines every payment. In sandbox, 0 means no limit, so the card loses its cap. Always send the current `status` and the intended `limit`.
</Warning>

## Before you start

- The card is not `blocked`.
- If your API key is scoped, it holds `card:freeze` or `card:terminate`.

## Find out what is required

<CodeGroup>
```bash title="cURL"
curl --request GET \
     --url https://api.gravv.xyz/v1/cards/a14ec356-f33d-4384-ba68-4d9bfa19765b \
     --header 'Api-Key: <API_KEY>'
```
```javascript title="Node"
const response = await fetch("https://api.gravv.xyz/v1/cards/a14ec356-f33d-4384-ba68-4d9bfa19765b", {
  method: "GET",
  headers: {
    "Api-Key": process.env.GRAVV_API_KEY,
  },
});
console.log(response.status, await response.json());
```
```python title="Python"
import os

import requests

response = requests.get(
    "https://api.gravv.xyz/v1/cards/a14ec356-f33d-4384-ba68-4d9bfa19765b",
    headers={
        "Api-Key": os.environ["GRAVV_API_KEY"],
    },
)
print(response.status_code, response.json())
```
</CodeGroup>

Read `status`, which you send back unchanged. Read `spending_controls.daily_transaction_limit`, which is the current limit in whole dollars.

## Steps

### 1. Raise the limit

This route takes no `Idempotency-Key`.

<CodeGroup>
```bash title="cURL"
curl --request PATCH \
     --url https://api.gravv.xyz/v1/cards/a14ec356-f33d-4384-ba68-4d9bfa19765b/update \
     --header 'Api-Key: <API_KEY>' \
     --header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
     --data '
{
  "status": "active",
  "limit": 1000
}
'
```
```javascript title="Node"
const response = await fetch("https://api.gravv.xyz/v1/cards/a14ec356-f33d-4384-ba68-4d9bfa19765b/update", {
  method: "PATCH",
  headers: {
    "Api-Key": process.env.GRAVV_API_KEY,
    "Content-Type": "application/json",
  },
  body: JSON.stringify({
    "status": "active",
    "limit": 1000
  }),
});
console.log(response.status, await response.json());
```
```python title="Python"
import os

import requests

response = requests.patch(
    "https://api.gravv.xyz/v1/cards/a14ec356-f33d-4384-ba68-4d9bfa19765b/update",
    headers={
        "Api-Key": os.environ["GRAVV_API_KEY"],
        "Content-Type": "application/json",
    },
    json={
        "status": "active",
        "limit": 1000,
    },
)
print(response.status_code, response.json())
```
</CodeGroup>

The response is the whole card, with `spending_controls.daily_transaction_limit` `1000`.

- `limit` is a whole number of dollars per day, sent as an integer such as `1000`.
- In live, the limit counts over a rolling 24 hours. In sandbox, it applies to each payment and to the day.

### 2. Set it back

<CodeGroup>
```bash title="cURL"
curl --request PATCH \
     --url https://api.gravv.xyz/v1/cards/a14ec356-f33d-4384-ba68-4d9bfa19765b/update \
     --header 'Api-Key: <API_KEY>' \
     --header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
     --data '
{
  "status": "active",
  "limit": 300
}
'
```
```javascript title="Node"
const response = await fetch("https://api.gravv.xyz/v1/cards/a14ec356-f33d-4384-ba68-4d9bfa19765b/update", {
  method: "PATCH",
  headers: {
    "Api-Key": process.env.GRAVV_API_KEY,
    "Content-Type": "application/json",
  },
  body: JSON.stringify({
    "status": "active",
    "limit": 300
  }),
});
console.log(response.status, await response.json());
```
```python title="Python"
import os

import requests

response = requests.patch(
    "https://api.gravv.xyz/v1/cards/a14ec356-f33d-4384-ba68-4d9bfa19765b/update",
    headers={
        "Api-Key": os.environ["GRAVV_API_KEY"],
        "Content-Type": "application/json",
    },
    json={
        "status": "active",
        "limit": 300,
    },
)
print(response.status_code, response.json())
```
</CodeGroup>

## What can go wrong

| Response | Why | Fix |
| :-- | :-- | :-- |
| Every payment declines after a status change (live) | You sent the update without `limit` | Send `{"status": "<current>", "limit": <intended>}` now |
| The card spends without a cap (sandbox) | You sent the update without `limit`, and 0 means no limit in sandbox | Send `{"status": "<current>", "limit": <intended>}` now |
| 400 `status is required` | You sent only `limit`, or left out `Content-Type: application/json` | Send both fields with the header |
| 400 `json: cannot unmarshal number 1000.5 into Go struct field Body.limit of type int` | The limit is a decimal or a string | Send a whole number |
| 400 `unexpected EOF` | The JSON is malformed | Send valid JSON |
| 400 `card is blocked and cannot be updated` | The card is blocked | [Issue a new card](/recipes/cards/issue-a-second-or-physical-card) |
| 400 `invalid status selected` | The status is not `active`, `freeze` or `blocked` | Use one of those three |
| 400 `failed to update card status` | The card program refused the update | Retry, then read the card back |
| 400 `card status changed concurrently, please retry` | Two updates ran at the same time | Retry |

## Webhooks you will receive

Gravv sends no webhook for a limit-only change.

## Testing in sandbox

Run the steps on a sandbox card and read the limit back with `GET /v1/cards/{card_id}`. You cannot make a card spend through the API in sandbox today, so you cannot produce a limit decline.

## Reference

- [Manage card status](/platform/cards/manage-card-status)
- [Update card status](/api-reference/cards/patch-v1-cards-card-id-update)