Hex Rate Limits

Overview

Hex's API enforces tight limits on project run triggers (20 per minute, 60 per hour) while leaving read operations like status checks and project listing largely unthrottled. Data teams scheduling batch analytics runs or triggering parameterized notebooks from CI/CD pipelines must carefully manage the hourly cap, since a single pipeline triggering 15 projects can consume a quarter of the hourly budget. Polling run status is free, but triggering runs is the bottleneck that shapes integration architecture.

Rate Limit Reference

Rate Limiter Implementation

class HexRateLimiter {
  private minuteTokens: number = 20;
  private hourlyTokens: number = 60;
  private lastMinuteRefill: number = Date.now();
  private lastHourlyRefill: number = Date.now();
  private queue: Array<{ resolve: () => void }> = [];

  async acquire(): Promise<void> {
    this.refill();
    if (this.minuteTokens >= 1 && this.hourlyTokens >= 1) {
      this.minuteTokens -= 1;
      this.hourlyTokens -= 1;
      return;
    }
    return new Promise(resolve => this.queue.push({ resolve }));
  }

  private refill() {
    const now = Date.now();
    this.minuteTokens = Math.min(20, this.minuteTokens + ((now - this.lastMinuteRefill) / 60_000) * 20);
    this.lastMinuteRefill = now;
    this.hourlyTokens = Math.min(60, this.hourlyTokens + ((now - this.lastHourlyRefill) / 3_600_000) * 60);
    this.lastHourlyRefill = now;
    while (this.minuteTokens >= 1 && this.hourlyTokens >= 1 && this.queue.length) {
      this.minuteTokens -= 1;
      this.hourlyTokens -= 1;
      this.queue.shift()!.resolve();
    }
  }
}

const runLimiter = new HexRateLimiter();

Retry Strategy

async function hexRunWithRetry(
  projectId: string, params: Record<string, any>, maxRetries = 3
): Promise<any> {
  for (let attempt = 0; attempt <= maxRetries; attempt++) {
    await runLimiter.acquire();
    const res = await fetch(`${HEX_BASE}/api/v1/run/${projectId}`, {
      method: "POST", headers,
      body: JSON.stringify({ inputParams: params }),
    });
    if (res.ok) return res.json();
    if (res.status === 429) {
      const delay = 30_000 * Math.pow(2, attempt) + Math.random() * 5000;
      await new Promise(r => setTimeout(r, delay));
      continue;
    }
    if (res.status >= 500 && attempt < maxRetries) {
      await new Promise(r => setTimeout(r, Math.pow(2, attempt) * 3000));
      continue;
    }
    throw new Error(`Hex API ${res.status}: ${await res.text()}`);
  }
  throw new Error("Max retries exceeded");
}

Batch Processing

async function batchRunProjects(projects: Array<{ id: string; params: any }>, batchSize = 5) {
  const results: any[] = [];
  for (let i = 0; i < projects.length; i += batchSize) {
    const batch = projects.slice(i, i + batchSize);
    const runs = await Promise.all(
      batch.map(p => hexRunWithRetry(p.id, p.params))
    );
    // Poll for completion
    for (const run of runs) {
      let status = run;
      while (status.status === "RUNNING") {
        await new Promise(r => setTimeout(r, 5000));
        const res = await fetch(`${HEX_BASE}/api/v1/run/${run.runId}/status`, { headers });
        status = await res.json();
      }
      results.push(status);
    }
    if (i + batchSize < projects.length) await new Promise(r => setTimeout(r, 15_000));
  }
  return results;
}

Error Handling

Resources

• Hex API Documentation

Next Steps

See hex-performance-tuning.