diff --git a/mcp/package.json b/mcp/package.json
index c91866e..d750d9e 100644
--- a/mcp/package.json
+++ b/mcp/package.json
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "@aifinpay/mcp",
-  "version": "2.0.0-rc.3",
+  "version": "2.0.0-rc.4",
   "description": "AiFinPay MCP production-RC control surface for Agent Passport resolution and runtime-verified AIFP-1/AIFP-2 settlement invoices. Signing tools remain gated until @aifinpay/agent v2 release.",
   "type": "module",
   "main": "dist/index.js",
diff --git a/mcp/src/tools/payable-fetch.ts b/mcp/src/tools/payable-fetch.ts
index 612c469..44c88c4 100644
--- a/mcp/src/tools/payable-fetch.ts
+++ b/mcp/src/tools/payable-fetch.ts
@@ -40,7 +40,7 @@ export function payableFetchTool() {
           type: "number",
           description:
             "Refuse to pay if the facilitator wants more than this. " +
-            "Defaults to AIFINPAY_MAX_USD env or no cap.",
+            "Capped by AIFINPAY_MAX_USD when the operator set one — this value can only lower it, never raise it.",
         },
         facilitator: {
           type: "string",
@@ -69,10 +69,29 @@ export async function runPayableFetch(
       ? (args.headers as Record<string, string>)
       : undefined;
 
-  const maxAmountUsd =
-    typeof args.max_amount_usd === "number"
+  // The model may NARROW the operator's cap, never widen it.
+  //
+  // This read `args.max_amount_usd ?? config.maxAmountUsd`, so a tool argument
+  // replaced the operator's limit outright: AIFINPAY_MAX_USD=0.10 and a model
+  // that asked for max_amount_usd: 1000 got 1000. The cap an operator sets is
+  // the one thing in this server they cannot express any other way, and it was
+  // the one a prompt could overwrite.
+  //
+  // Latent rather than exploited — payable_fetch is not registered on the
+  // current server — but the file is what SDK 2.0 re-registers, and a spend cap
+  // that a caller can raise is not a cap.
+  //
+  // Math.min in one direction only: unset operator cap means no policy to
+  // violate, so a model-supplied value stands on its own.
+  const requestedMax =
+    typeof args.max_amount_usd === "number" && Number.isFinite(args.max_amount_usd)
       ? args.max_amount_usd
-      : ctx.config.maxAmountUsd;
+      : undefined;
+  const operatorMax = ctx.config.maxAmountUsd;
+  const maxAmountUsd =
+    operatorMax === undefined ? requestedMax
+    : requestedMax === undefined ? operatorMax
+    : Math.min(operatorMax, requestedMax);
 
   const forcedFacilitator =
     typeof args.facilitator === "string" ? (args.facilitator as string) : undefined;
diff --git a/mcp/tests/spend-cap-narrows-only.test.ts b/mcp/tests/spend-cap-narrows-only.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e94acf8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/mcp/tests/spend-cap-narrows-only.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,68 @@
+import { describe, expect, it } from "vitest";
+import { readFileSync } from "node:fs";
+
+// The operator's spend cap was overwritable by a tool argument:
+//
+//     const maxAmountUsd = typeof args.max_amount_usd === "number"
+//       ? args.max_amount_usd            // ← whatever the model asked for
+//       : ctx.config.maxAmountUsd;
+//
+// AIFINPAY_MAX_USD=0.10 and a model that asked for 1000 got 1000. The cap is the
+// one control an operator cannot express any other way, and it was the one a
+// prompt could remove.
+//
+// Latent — payable_fetch is not registered on the current server — but this file
+// is what SDK 2.0 re-registers. A cap a caller can raise is not a cap.
+//
+// The resolution is asserted directly rather than through the tool, because the
+// tool needs an agent, a network and a 402 to reach this line, and none of those
+// change what the arithmetic must be.
+const SRC = readFileSync(new URL("../src/tools/payable-fetch.ts", import.meta.url), "utf8");
+
+/** The same rule the tool implements, kept next to its assertions. */
+function resolveCap(operatorMax?: number, requestedMax?: number): number | undefined {
+  return operatorMax === undefined ? requestedMax
+    : requestedMax === undefined ? operatorMax
+    : Math.min(operatorMax, requestedMax);
+}
+
+describe("the operator cap can be narrowed, never widened", () => {
+  it("a model asking for more than the operator allows gets the operator's number", () => {
+    expect(resolveCap(0.1, 1000)).toBe(0.1);
+    expect(resolveCap(0.1, 0.100001)).toBe(0.1);
+  });
+
+  it("a model asking for less gets its own, narrower number", () => {
+    // Narrowing is the legitimate use: a cautious agent capping itself further.
+    expect(resolveCap(10, 0.5)).toBe(0.5);
+  });
+
+  it("no operator cap means the model's value stands", () => {
+    // There is no policy to violate. Refusing here would make the tool unusable
+    // for anyone who has not set the env var.
+    expect(resolveCap(undefined, 5)).toBe(5);
+  });
+
+  it("no request means the operator's cap applies", () => {
+    expect(resolveCap(0.1, undefined)).toBe(0.1);
+  });
+
+  it("neither set means no cap, which is the documented default", () => {
+    expect(resolveCap(undefined, undefined)).toBeUndefined();
+  });
+
+  it("the tool uses Math.min and not a replacement", () => {
+    // The regression is a one-token edit — `?` instead of Math.min — so the
+    // shape is asserted, not only the arithmetic beside it.
+    expect(SRC).toMatch(/Math\.min\(operatorMax, requestedMax\)/);
+    expect(SRC).not.toMatch(/\?\s*args\.max_amount_usd\s*\n?\s*:\s*ctx\.config\.maxAmountUsd/);
+  });
+
+  it("a non-finite request cannot erase the operator's cap", () => {
+    // NaN and Infinity are numbers. `typeof x === "number"` alone accepted both,
+    // and Math.min(0.1, NaN) is NaN — a cap that compares false against every
+    // amount.
+    expect(SRC).toMatch(/Number\.isFinite\(args\.max_amount_usd\)/);
+    expect(resolveCap(0.1, undefined)).toBe(0.1);
+  });
+});