A five-second model timeout does not give you a five-second AI feature. Retrieval may take one second. The first model call takes four. A tool takes another two, and the next model call gets its own five-second timeout. Every dependency stayed within its local limit, yet the request took 12 seconds and paid for two model calls. The complete use case needs one runtime budget. Its remaining allowance follows every model call, tool invocation, and retry. Timeouts still matter. They are jus...