diff --git a/backend/inbox/app.py b/backend/inbox/app.py
index 28df178..1ca96ea 100644
--- a/backend/inbox/app.py
+++ b/backend/inbox/app.py
@@ -68,7 +68,7 @@ class EmailReplyBody(BaseModel):
 
 @router.get("/email/fetch")
 async def fetch_email(
-    top:int=Query(100),
+    top:int=Query(100,ge=1,le=100),
     skip:int=Query(0,ge=0),
     test_on: bool = Query(True),
     token: str | None = Query(None),
@@ -100,7 +100,7 @@ async def fetch_email(
 
 @router.post("/email/sync")
 async def start_email_sync(
-    top:int=Query(100),
+    top:int=Query(100,ge=1,le=100),
     skip:int=Query(0,ge=0),
     test_on: bool = Query(True),
     current_user: dict = Depends(require_permission(PermissionTag.INBOX_EDIT)),
diff --git a/backend/inbox/views.py b/backend/inbox/views.py
index 43f83b5..1e07af5 100644
--- a/backend/inbox/views.py
+++ b/backend/inbox/views.py
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ triage_logger=logging.getLogger("inbox.triage")
 
 # One statement, one round trip — but an unbounded id list is still a client-supplied
 # IN () of arbitrary size, so the batch is capped and the route answers 413.
-MAX_BULK_READ_IDS=500
+MAX_BULK_READ_IDS=100
 
 
 class Email: