+#define NOTMUCH_METADATA_THREAD_ID_PREFIX "thread_id_"
+
+/* For message IDs we have to be even more restrictive. Beyond fitting
+ * into the term limit, we also use message IDs to construct
+ * metadata-key values. And the documentation says that these should
+ * be restricted to about 200 characters. (The actual limit for the
+ * chert backend at least is 252.)
+ */
+#define NOTMUCH_MESSAGE_ID_MAX (200 - sizeof (NOTMUCH_METADATA_THREAD_ID_PREFIX))
+