diff --git a/runtime/binding-tcp/src/main/java/io/aklivity/zilla/runtime/binding/tcp/internal/TcpCapacityTracker.java b/runtime/binding-tcp/src/main/java/io/aklivity/zilla/runtime/binding/tcp/internal/TcpCapacityTracker.java
index daaca5be55..8e3fe9acd6 100644
--- a/runtime/binding-tcp/src/main/java/io/aklivity/zilla/runtime/binding/tcp/internal/TcpCapacityTracker.java
+++ b/runtime/binding-tcp/src/main/java/io/aklivity/zilla/runtime/binding/tcp/internal/TcpCapacityTracker.java
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@
  */
 package io.aklivity.zilla.runtime.binding.tcp.internal;
 
-import static io.aklivity.zilla.runtime.engine.EngineConfiguration.ENGINE_WORKER_CAPACITY;
+import static io.aklivity.zilla.runtime.engine.EngineConfiguration.ENGINE_WORKER_CAPACITY_LIMIT;
 
 import java.util.function.LongConsumer;
 
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ public TcpCapacityTracker(
         TcpConfiguration config,
         EngineContext context)
     {
-        this.capacity = ENGINE_WORKER_CAPACITY.getAsInt(config);
+        this.capacity = ENGINE_WORKER_CAPACITY_LIMIT.getAsInt(config);
         this.recordUsage = context.supplyUtilizationMetric();
     }
 
diff --git a/runtime/engine/src/main/java/io/aklivity/zilla/runtime/engine/EngineConfiguration.java b/runtime/engine/src/main/java/io/aklivity/zilla/runtime/engine/EngineConfiguration.java
index 6fefe09c8b..9e7737cc30 100644
--- a/runtime/engine/src/main/java/io/aklivity/zilla/runtime/engine/EngineConfiguration.java
+++ b/runtime/engine/src/main/java/io/aklivity/zilla/runtime/engine/EngineConfiguration.java
@@ -60,6 +60,8 @@ public class EngineConfiguration extends Configuration
     public static final PropertyDef<Path> ENGINE_CACHE_DIRECTORY;
     public static final PropertyDef<HostResolver> ENGINE_HOST_RESOLVER;
     public static final IntPropertyDef ENGINE_WORKER_CAPACITY;
+    public static final IntPropertyDef ENGINE_WORKER_CAPACITY_LIMIT;
+    public static final BooleanPropertyDef ENGINE_WORKER_CAPACITY_UNBOUNDED;
     public static final DoublePropertyDef ENGINE_MEMORY_PERCENTAGE;
     public static final DoublePropertyDef ENGINE_DISK_PERCENTAGE;
     public static final IntPropertyDef ENGINE_BUFFER_POOL_CAPACITY;
@@ -111,6 +113,8 @@ public class EngineConfiguration extends Configuration
         ENGINE_MEMORY_PERCENTAGE = config.property("memory.percentage", 0.25);
         ENGINE_DISK_PERCENTAGE = config.property("disk.percentage", 0.75);
         ENGINE_WORKER_CAPACITY = config.property("worker.capacity", EngineConfiguration::defaultWorkerCapacity);
+        ENGINE_WORKER_CAPACITY_UNBOUNDED = config.property("worker.capacity.unbounded", false);
+        ENGINE_WORKER_CAPACITY_LIMIT = config.property("worker.capacity.limit", EngineConfiguration::defaultWorkerCapacityLimit);
         ENGINE_BUFFER_POOL_CAPACITY = config.property("buffer.pool.capacity", EngineConfiguration::defaultBufferPoolCapacity);
         ENGINE_BUFFER_SLOT_CAPACITY = config.property("buffer.slot.capacity", 32 * 1024);
         ENGINE_STREAMS_BUFFER_CAPACITY = config.property("streams.buffer.capacity",
@@ -426,6 +430,14 @@ private static int defaultWorkerCapacity(
         return newWorkersCapacity;
     }
 
+    private static int defaultWorkerCapacityLimit(
+        Configuration config)
+    {
+        return ENGINE_WORKER_CAPACITY_UNBOUNDED.get(config)
+            ? Integer.MAX_VALUE
+            : ENGINE_WORKER_CAPACITY.get(config);
+    }
+
     private static URL configURL(
         Configuration config,
         String url)
diff --git a/runtime/engine/src/main/java/io/aklivity/zilla/runtime/engine/internal/registry/EngineWorker.java b/runtime/engine/src/main/java/io/aklivity/zilla/runtime/engine/internal/registry/EngineWorker.java
index 63ab53aaf5..b79419a8eb 100644
--- a/runtime/engine/src/main/java/io/aklivity/zilla/runtime/engine/internal/registry/EngineWorker.java
+++ b/runtime/engine/src/main/java/io/aklivity/zilla/runtime/engine/internal/registry/EngineWorker.java
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@
  */
 package io.aklivity.zilla.runtime.engine.internal.registry;
 
-import static io.aklivity.zilla.runtime.engine.EngineConfiguration.ENGINE_WORKER_CAPACITY;
+import static io.aklivity.zilla.runtime.engine.EngineConfiguration.ENGINE_WORKER_CAPACITY_LIMIT;
 import static io.aklivity.zilla.runtime.engine.budget.BudgetCreditor.NO_BUDGET_ID;
 import static io.aklivity.zilla.runtime.engine.concurrent.Signaler.NO_CANCEL_ID;
 import static io.aklivity.zilla.runtime.engine.internal.registry.MetricHandlerKind.ORIGIN;
@@ -895,7 +895,7 @@ public void onStart()
             LongConsumer recordUtilization = supplyGaugeWriter(utilizationMetricId);
 
             recordCount.accept(1);
-            recordCapacity.accept(ENGINE_WORKER_CAPACITY.getAsInt(config));
+            recordCapacity.accept(ENGINE_WORKER_CAPACITY_LIMIT.getAsInt(config));
             recordUtilization.accept(0);
         }
     }