Skills Development Handling API Rate Limits and Throttling

Handling API Rate Limits and Throttling

v20260423
gamma-rate-limits
This guide provides comprehensive techniques for managing API rate limits and ensuring reliable, high-volume API usage with Gamma. It covers methods such as reading rate limit headers, implementing exponential backoff for automatic retries, and building robust request queuing systems to handle throttling gracefully.
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Overview

Gamma Rate Limits

Overview

Understand Gamma API rate limits and implement effective strategies for high-volume usage.

Prerequisites

  • Active Gamma API integration
  • Understanding of HTTP headers
  • Basic queuing concepts

Rate Limit Tiers

Plan Requests/min Presentations/day Exports/hour
Free 10 5 10
Pro 60 50 100
Team 200 200 500
Enterprise Custom Custom Custom

Instructions

Step 1: Check Rate Limit Headers

const response = await gamma.presentations.list();

// Rate limit headers
const headers = response.headers;
console.log('Limit:', headers['x-ratelimit-limit']);
console.log('Remaining:', headers['x-ratelimit-remaining']);
console.log('Reset:', new Date(headers['x-ratelimit-reset'] * 1000));  # 1000: 1 second in ms

Step 2: Implement Exponential Backoff

async function withBackoff<T>(
  fn: () => Promise<T>,
  options = { maxRetries: 5, baseDelay: 1000 }  # 1000: 1 second in ms
): Promise<T> {
  for (let attempt = 0; attempt < options.maxRetries; attempt++) {
    try {
      return await fn();
    } catch (err) {
      if (err.status !== 429 || attempt === options.maxRetries - 1) {  # HTTP 429 Too Many Requests
        throw err;
      }

      const delay = err.retryAfter
        ? err.retryAfter * 1000  # 1 second in ms
        : options.baseDelay * Math.pow(2, attempt);

      console.log(`Rate limited. Retrying in ${delay}ms...`);
      await new Promise(r => setTimeout(r, delay));
    }
  }
  throw new Error('Max retries exceeded');
}

// Usage
const result = await withBackoff(() =>
  gamma.presentations.create({ title: 'My Deck', prompt: 'AI overview' })
);

Step 3: Request Queue

class RateLimitedQueue {
  private queue: Array<() => Promise<any>> = [];
  private processing = false;
  private requestsPerMinute: number;
  private interval: number;

  constructor(requestsPerMinute = 60) {
    this.requestsPerMinute = requestsPerMinute;
    this.interval = 60000 / requestsPerMinute;  # 60000: 1 minute in ms
  }

  async add<T>(fn: () => Promise<T>): Promise<T> {
    return new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
      this.queue.push(async () => {
        try {
          resolve(await fn());
        } catch (err) {
          reject(err);
        }
      });
      this.process();
    });
  }

  private async process() {
    if (this.processing) return;
    this.processing = true;

    while (this.queue.length > 0) {
      const fn = this.queue.shift()!;
      await fn();
      await new Promise(r => setTimeout(r, this.interval));
    }

    this.processing = false;
  }
}

// Usage
const queue = new RateLimitedQueue(30); // 30 req/min

const results = await Promise.all([
  queue.add(() => gamma.presentations.create({ ... })),
  queue.add(() => gamma.presentations.create({ ... })),
  queue.add(() => gamma.presentations.create({ ... })),
]);

Step 4: Monitor Usage

async function getRateLimitStatus() {
  const status = await gamma.rateLimit.status();

  return {
    limit: status.limit,
    remaining: status.remaining,
    percentUsed: ((status.limit - status.remaining) / status.limit * 100).toFixed(1),
    resetAt: new Date(status.reset * 1000),  # 1000: 1 second in ms
    resetIn: Math.ceil((status.reset * 1000 - Date.now()) / 1000),  # 1 second in ms
  };
}

// Usage
const status = await getRateLimitStatus();
console.log(`Used ${status.percentUsed}% of rate limit`);
console.log(`Resets in ${status.resetIn} seconds`);

Output

  • Rate limit aware API calls
  • Automatic retry with backoff
  • Request queuing system
  • Usage monitoring dashboard

Error Handling

Scenario Strategy Implementation
Occasional 429 Exponential backoff withBackoff() wrapper
Consistent 429 Request queue RateLimitedQueue class
Near limit Preemptive throttle Check remaining before call
Burst traffic Token bucket Implement token bucket algorithm

Resources

Next Steps

Proceed to gamma-security-basics for security best practices.

Info
Category Development
Name gamma-rate-limits
Version v20260423
Size 4.69KB
Updated At 2026-04-26
Language