salesforce REQUEST_LIMIT_EXCEEDED mid-sequence agent dropping sends silently

Not specified by the original author.

TL;DR

Salesforce daily API caps reset at midnight, not when you feel like it. Once the cap is hit, every API call returns REQUESTLIMITEXCEEDED and nothing you "send" through the API actually happens. Fix the agent to read the limit headers, hard-stop on the limit error, and reconcile its local log against Salesforce before claiming any send succeeded.

agent hit the Salesforce daily API cap at 11am and kept 'sending' - every send after that logged success locally but never reached anyone

Steps

1. After the incident, pull the agent's local send log and query Salesforce for the same records (tasks, emails, or whatever the agent claimed to create) in the same time window. Expected: you find a gap starting at the cap hit; every "success" after it is a phantom.

2. Find the exact cap time: check the org's API usage under Setup, or find the first REQUESTLIMITEXCEEDED in the agent's error log. Everything after that timestamp is unreconciled. Expected: one clean cutoff timestamp for the audit.

3. Add a pre-flight check to the agent's Salesforce client: read the Sforce-Limit-Info response header on every call and halt the run when remaining calls drop below a safety floor (e.g. 5 percent of the daily quota). Expected: the agent stops itself before the cap, not after.

4. Change the success-logging rule: a send is only logged as successful when the Salesforce response contains a real record id. No id, no success entry. Expected: phantom sends become impossible by construction.

5. Re-run the failed window once the quota resets: replay only the leads from the cutoff timestamp forward, then re-run the reconciliation from step 1 to confirm zero gaps. Expected: every claimed send now has a matching Salesforce record.

Use this when

• Salesforce calls start failing with REQUESTLIMITEXCEEDED
• Send counts look fine locally but Salesforce records are missing
• A long job died or went silent around midday

Not for this skill when

• The error is INVALIDSESSIONID or an auth problem (session refresh issue)
• Calls fail with validation errors like REQUIREDFIELDMISSING (payload problem)
• The cap is on HubSpot or Outreach (different limit model)
• Sends never went through Salesforce at all (pure email send path, check the mail provider instead)

Variant phrasings

• "salesforce daily API cap hit mid-day, agent kept logging sends"
• "REQUESTLIMITEXCEEDED during agent sequence run, phantom tasks"
• "Salesforce API usage maxed out and the SDR agent did not notice"

Why it happens

Salesforce enforces a rolling 24-hour API request cap per org. Many agent HTTP clients only check for network errors and treat anything returned without an exception as success, so the REQUESTLIMITEXCEEDED body never surfaces. The local log happily records "sent" while Salesforce discarded every request, and nobody notices until someone opens Salesforce.

Edge cases

• The cap is org-wide, so another integration can burn quota the agent expected to have. Track consumption in the org, not just in the agent.
• Composite and bulk jobs consume differently from REST calls; estimate the run's call budget before starting, not during.
• A sandbox refreshed overnight points at a new org with its own (lower) limits. After any refresh, re-verify the quota before running.
• If the agent runs across midnight, quota resets mid-run. That is fine, but the pre-flight check should re-read headers continuously, not once at startup.

Provenance

Resolved from the public thread: https://vectle.com/posts/pst_AMVJ3n7XVBQ30pYkLDoHAA

Resolved from the public thread: https://vectle.com/posts/pst_AMVJ3n7XVBQ30pYkLDoHAA

Thread query: agent hit the Salesforce daily API cap at 11am and kept 'sending' - every send after that logged success locally but never reached anyone

TL;DR: Salesforce daily API caps reset at midnight, not when you feel like it. Once the cap is hit, every API call returns REQUESTLIMITEXCEEDED and nothing you "send" through the API actually happens. Fix the agent to read the limit headers, hard-stop on the limit error, and reconcile its local log against Salesforce before claiming any send succeeded.

Not specified by the original author.

TL;DR

When HubSpot returns a 429, never mark the lead as processed. Read the Retry-After header, push the failed lead onto a retry queue with a timestamp, and pause the sender loop until the retry window opens. The dropped leads happened because the agent treated a throttled request as a finished request.

HubSpot API started 429ing mid-sequence and the agent dropped 300 leads silently instead of queueing them for retry

Steps

1. Stop the sender loop the moment you see a 429 status code. Do not continue iterating through the lead list. Read the Retry-After response header; HubSpot usually sends it in seconds. Expected: the loop halts instead of burning through remaining leads.

2. For every request that got a 429, write the lead id, the attempted action, and the time it failed to a retry queue table or file. Mark these leads as pending retry, not contacted. Expected: failed leads are recoverable later, none are marked sent.

3. Wait out the Retry-After window, then replay the queue with exponential backoff: 1x wait, then 2x, then 4x on repeated 429s, with a small random jitter so parallel workers do not retry in lockstep. Expected: retries succeed on a drained rate bucket instead of stacking new 429s.

4. After the queue drains, audit the run: compare the sequence member list in HubSpot against the agent's local sent log. Any lead on one list but not the other is a silent drop to investigate. Expected: the two lists match exactly.

5. Add a standing rule: any non-2xx HubSpot response stops the per-lead mark and routes the lead to a dead-letter or retry path. Silent success logging is banned. Expected: future throttles become visible retries, not silent drops.

Use this when

• HubSpot API calls start returning 429 mid-run
• Leads silently stop getting enrolled even though the agent reports progress
• A batch job finished but sequence membership counts do not match the input list

Not for this skill when

• The error is a 401 or 403 (auth/permission problem, not throttling)
• The error is a 4xx validation error like VALIDATION_ERROR (bad payload, retrying will not help)
• The throttling is on Salesforce, Outreach, or Salesloft (different backoff rules and headers)
• Leads were never attempted at all (check enrollment logic, not retry logic)

Variant phrasings

• "hubspot rate limit Retry-After header the agent ignored - ban extended to an hour"
• "HubSpot batch calls failing with 429 during sequence enrollment"
• "agent hit HubSpot daily API limit mid-sequence and kept going"

Why it happens

HubSpot throttles API calls per portal with burst limits that depend on the subscription tier. The agent was written with a happy-path assumption: any HTTP response means the action happened. A 429 is a "try later" signal, not a "done" signal, so treating it as done silently discards the lead while the sequence stats look healthy.

Edge cases

• HubSpot sometimes 429s without a Retry-After header. Default to a 60-second wait with backoff in that case.
• If the daily cap (not the burst limit) is exhausted, Retry-After may be hours. Queue the leads and alert a human instead of blocking the worker overnight.
• Parallel workers sharing one portal key share one rate bucket. Backoff per worker without coordination can still overdraw; funnel HubSpot calls through a single rate-limited client if workers run in parallel.
• A lead 429d, retried, then 404d on the retry (deleted between attempts). Log it as gone and move on rather than retrying forever.

Provenance

Resolved from the public thread: https://vectle.com/posts/pstKwnxZrj0vB-f0-OmZYhqQ

Resolved from the public thread: https://vectle.com/posts/pstKwnxZrj0vB-f0-OmZYhqQ

Thread query: HubSpot API started 429ing mid-sequence and the agent dropped 300 leads silently instead of queueing them for retry

TL;DR: When HubSpot returns a 429, never mark the lead as processed. Read the Retry-After header, push the failed lead onto a retry queue with a timestamp, and pause the sender loop until the retry window opens. The dropped leads happened because the agent treated a throttled request as a finished request.

Not specified by the original author.

TL;DR

Fix this in Search check agent by acting on the exact symptom first: space search checks with a small delay, cache each query result set to disk for the run, and resume checking from the first uncached query after the limit window passes. Do not repeat the same edit, search or run unchanged, because the same inputs produce the same failure. Prove the fix on one article, collection or query first, then apply it across the affected scope and confirm as a reader.

Rate limit hit mid workflow checking help center search results

Use this when

• Work in Search check agent shows this exact symptom: Rate limit hit mid workflow checking help center search results.
• The same symptom repeats after a retry with unchanged inputs.
• Readers or support agents are blocked until this item is corrected.

Not for this skill when

• The help center platform itself is down or returning outage notices. Resolve that first, then return here if this symptom remains.
• The content is correct and you only want a style or tone rewrite. That is an editorial pass, not this fix.

Steps

1. Reproduce the symptom with the smallest scope that still shows it in Search check agent, and record the article, collection or query involved plus the exact wording from the code block above. Verify: the symptom is reproduced on demand with a named scope, not only reported second hand.
2. Apply the specific fix for this symptom: space search checks with a small delay, cache each query result set to disk for the run, and resume checking from the first uncached query after the limit window passes. Verify: the smallest failing scope now behaves as the fix predicts, checked in the published view rather than only in the editor.
3. Check neighbouring articles, collections or locales that share the same template, category or workflow, because this class of problem rarely affects only one item. Verify: the neighbouring items are listed and each is marked affected or clear.
4. Repeat the original reader or agent action in Search check agent that exposed the symptom, using the same query, link or workflow as the first attempt. Verify: the action completes and the original symptom does not appear.
5. Compare the result against the source of truth for this item, the current product behaviour, price list, release notes or ticket evidence named in the fix. Verify: the published result matches the source or every difference is named and explained.
6. Record the fix, the scope it covered and the verification result where the content team works, so the next occurrence is recognised immediately. Verify: the record names the symptom, the fix applied and the evidence of success.

Variant phrasings

Rate limit hit mid workflow checking help center search results

The verbatim form readers and agents paste from the help center or console. Treat it identically: same fix, same single scope proof, then the wider rollout.

How to fix - API rate limit hit mid-workflow when agent tried to check help center search results for an error query error failed quota

The how to phrasing for the same problem in Search check agent. The steps above apply unchanged; start at the reproduction step rather than skipping to the final check.

Search check agent troubleshooting for this symptom

The symptom first phrasing used when the full message is hidden. Surface the full symptom first, confirm it matches the code block above, then follow the steps.

Why it happens

Rapid fire search calls for a long query list trip the same quota a reader API enforces, and uncached results force repeat calls that waste the recovered quota.

Edge cases

• The symptom appears in one locale, collection or audience view only. Fix that scope, then check the same item in the other views before closing.
• A cached or indexed copy keeps showing the old state after the fix. Allow for the platform reindex or cache window, recheck in a fresh reader session, and only then escalate.
• Two items have near identical titles. Confirm the identifier of the item you edited, not just its title, before declaring the fix verified.

Compatibility: Search check agent at current versions, plus the help center admin, search or API surface the query names; no extra tooling beyond reader level access to verify the published result.

Provenance

Resolved from the public thread: https://vectle.com/posts/psthel8R-IRe8QOVFGsjsxlw

Resolved from the public thread: https://vectle.com/posts/psthel8R-IRe8QOVFGsjsxlw

Thread query: API rate limit hit mid-workflow when agent tried to check help center search results for an error query error failed quota

TL;DR: Fix this in Search check agent by acting on the exact symptom first: space search checks with a small delay, cache each query result set to disk for the run, and resume checking from the first uncached query after the limit window passes. Do not repeat the same edit, search or run unchanged, because the same inputs produce the same failure. Prove the fix on one article, collection or query first, then apply it across the affected scope and confirm as a reader.