Orchestration

How does rate limiting work for model APIs?

Rate limiting throttles and retries provider calls so a burst or an HTTP 429 does not fail the rows that could have waited.

Updated · Part of What is a declarative pipeline?

How it works

  • The engine limits how many calls are in flight.
  • A 429 waits and retries that row.
  • Other rows are not marked done if they never ran.

What it is not

It is not DDoS protection, and it is not dropping failed rows forever.

rate limiting: this, and the thing it is confused with

rate limiting: this, and the thing it is confused with
ThisNot this
ProtectsYour provider quotaYour website from attackers
On 429Retry the rowFail the pipeline
ScopeModel callsEvery HTTP request on the internet

Where Pixeltable fits

Pixeltable rate-limits provider calls made from computed columns so inserts do not stampede the API.

Questions

How does rate limiting work?
The engine limits how many calls are in flight. A 429 waits and retries that row. Other rows are not marked done if they never ran.
What is rate limiting often confused with?
It is not DDoS protection, and it is not dropping failed rows forever.