Buffer Rate Limits & Idempotency #
Operational limits, 429 backoff procedures, and retry rules for agent pipelines.
Rate Limit Windows #
Buffer enforces three stacked rate-limiting windows per API token:
| Window | Duration | Scope / Purpose |
|---|---|---|
15m | 15 minutes | Burst protection |
24h | 24 hours | Daily fairness |
30d | 30 days | Account monthly quota |
Handling HTTP 429 & Backoff #
On rate limit trip (Exit Code 3):
- Extract
Retry-Afterseconds from the stderr error message. - Sleep for the specified duration.
- Retry once. If another 429 occurs, double the sleep interval and retry once more.
Idempotency & Retry Matrix #
| Command Group | Idempotent? | Retry Strategy on Failure |
|---|---|---|
account, channels list, channels get | Yes | Safe to retry immediately |
posts list, posts get, dailyPostingLimits | Yes | Safe to retry immediately |
posts create | NO | Search recent posts via posts list before retrying |
ideas create | NO | Inspect existing ideas before re-issuing |
posts delete | Yes (effectively) | Second call returns exit 3 (“not found”) |