Skills Development Handling API Rate Limits With Backoff

Handling API Rate Limits With Backoff

v20260423
speak-rate-limits
This guide provides robust patterns for managing external API rate limits, specifically detailing the implementation of exponential backoff, request queuing, and throttling strategies. It uses TypeScript examples to ensure stable and reliable API interactions. Use this when building production-grade applications that require frequent, high-volume calls to rate-limited services, such as language learning APIs.
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Overview

Speak Rate Limits

Overview

Handle Speak API rate limits with exponential backoff, request queuing, and optimization strategies.

Prerequisites

  • Completed speak-install-auth setup
  • Valid API credentials configured
  • Understanding of Speak API patterns

Instructions

Rate Limit Overview

Tier Assessments/min Conversations/min Audio upload/min
Free 10 5 10
Pro 60 30 60
Enterprise 300 150 300

Rate-Limited Client

class RateLimitedSpeakClient {
  private lastRequest = 0;
  private minDelay: number;

  constructor(private client: SpeakClient, requestsPerMinute: number = 60) {
    this.minDelay = 60000 / requestsPerMinute;
  }

  private async throttle() {
    const elapsed = Date.now() - this.lastRequest;
    if (elapsed < this.minDelay) {
      await new Promise(r => setTimeout(r, this.minDelay - elapsed));
    }
    this.lastRequest = Date.now();
  }

  async assessPronunciation(config: PronunciationConfig) {
    await this.throttle();
    return this.retryOn429(() => this.client.assessPronunciation(config));
  }

  private async retryOn429<T>(fn: () => Promise<T>, maxRetries = 3): Promise<T> {
    for (let i = 0; i < maxRetries; i++) {
      try {
        return await fn();
      } catch (err: any) {
        if (err.response?.status === 429 && i < maxRetries - 1) {
          const wait = parseInt(err.response.headers['retry-after'] || String(2 ** i));
          console.log(`Rate limited. Waiting ${wait}s...`);
          await new Promise(r => setTimeout(r, wait * 1000));
          continue;
        }
        throw err;
      }
    }
    throw new Error('Max retries exceeded');
  }
}

Batch Assessment Queue

async function batchAssess(client: RateLimitedSpeakClient, recordings: Recording[]) {
  const results = [];
  for (const rec of recordings) {
    const result = await client.assessPronunciation({
      audioPath: rec.path, targetText: rec.text, language: rec.lang,
    });
    results.push({ ...rec, score: result.score });
    console.log(`Assessed "${rec.text}": ${result.score}/100`);
  }
  return results;
}

Output

  • Limits implementation complete
  • Speak API integration verified
  • Production-ready patterns applied

Error Handling

Error Cause Solution
401 Unauthorized Invalid API key Verify SPEAK_API_KEY environment variable
429 Rate Limited Too many requests Wait Retry-After seconds, use backoff
Audio format error Wrong codec/sample rate Convert to WAV 16kHz mono with ffmpeg
Session expired Timeout after 30 min Start a new conversation session

Resources

Next Steps

See speak-prod-checklist for production readiness.

Examples

Basic: Apply rate limits with default configuration for a standard Speak integration.

Advanced: Customize for production with error recovery, monitoring, and team-specific requirements.

Info
Category Development
Name speak-rate-limits
Version v20260423
Size 2.92KB
Updated At 2026-04-28
Language