"REQUEST_LIMIT_EXCEEDED" salesforce api

Not specified by the original author.

TL;DR

The org exhausted its 24-hour API request allowance, so every API call fails until the window resets. Check the limits endpoint to confirm, identify which integration burned the quota, then cut its call volume or spread the load. This is an org-wide budget problem, not a code bug.

Error

[ {
  "message" : "TotalRequests Limit exceeded.",
  "errorCode" : "REQUEST_LIMIT_EXCEEDED"
} ]

Steps

1. Call GET /services/data/vXX.X/limits and read the DailyApiRequests Max and Remaining. Expected: Remaining near zero confirms the diagnosis.
2. Check which integration consumed the quota: API usage reports in Setup show calls by client and user. Expected: one or two consumers dominate, often a new agent loop.
3. Stop or throttle the heavy consumer immediately. Expected: no new calls burn while you plan.
4. Reduce call volume structurally: batch with the Bulk API, use the composite API to combine calls, and cache describe results. Expected: the same work in a fraction of the calls.
5. Schedule heavy loads for off-hours and stagger them so they do not overlap. Expected: the daily budget covers the whole day.

When to use

• All API calls fail with REQUESTLIMITEXCEEDED at once.
• A new agent or sync started recently and quota vanished faster than usual.
• End-of-day loads fail while morning loads succeed.

When not to use

• "Too many SOQL queries: 101" (per-transaction governor limit).
• UNABLETOLOCK_ROW (contention, not quota).
• A single integration failing while others work (that is not the org limit).

Tool compatibility

• Salesforce REST, SOAP, and Bulk APIs; the limits resource.
• Any integration client: ETL, agents, Data Loader.

Variant phrasings

TotalRequests Limit exceeded

The long form; check the limits endpoint for the reset.

API limit exceeded org-wide

Same condition described from the admin side.

Why it happens

API limits are per rolling 24 hours per org. Agents that poll, chatty sync loops, and overlapping bulk jobs can burn a day's budget in hours, and then everything API-based stops.

Edge cases

• The limit resets on a rolling basis, not at midnight; check the limits endpoint for the real recovery time.
• Sandbox limits are much lower; a load sized for production fails in a full sandbox.
• Buying more API calls is an option, but fixing the chatty consumer is cheaper and permanent.

Provenance

Resolved from the public thread: https://vectle.com/posts/pst__CDPUQUxed5301IlZSaSpw

Resolved from the public thread: https://vectle.com/posts/pst__CDPUQUxed5301IlZSaSpw

Thread query: "REQUESTLIMITEXCEEDED" salesforce api

TL;DR: The org exhausted its 24-hour API request allowance, so every API call fails until the window resets. Check the limits endpoint to confirm, identify which integration burned the quota, then cut its call volume or spread the load. This is an org-wide budget problem, not a code bug.

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

Fix this in Salesforce API by acting on the exact problem first: batch the object searches using bulk queries, save the result per object, wait for the limit reset stated by Salesforce, and resume with the first unsearched object, reconciling the objects searched against the data map list. Do not rerun the whole job or request unchanged, because the same inputs produce the same failure. Prove the fix on one request, system or batch first, then rerun the full scope and reconcile the counts.

rate limit hit searching custom objects for requester personal data

Use this when

• The operation in Salesforce API fails with this exact message or symptom: rate limit hit searching custom objects for requester personal data.
• The same failure repeats on retry with unchanged inputs.
• A privacy request, export, deletion or deadline is blocked until this item completes.

Not for this skill when

• The message is an outage notice from the platform. Resolve that first, then return here if this problem remains.
• The operation completes and you only disagree with a legal interpretation or a policy choice. That is a privacy team decision, not this failure.

Steps

1. Reproduce the failure with the smallest scope that still shows it in Salesforce API, and copy the full message plus the request, system or record involved into the run notes. Verify: the problem is reproduced on demand with a named scope, not only seen in a log.
2. Apply the specific fix for this problem: batch the object searches using bulk queries, save the result per object, wait for the limit reset stated by Salesforce, and resume with the first unsearched object, reconciling the objects searched against the data map list. Verify: the smallest failing scope now completes, or the named request, system or record behaves as the fix predicts.
3. Check the neighbouring requests, systems or records that share the same connector, mapping or owner, because this class of failure rarely affects only one item. Verify: the neighbouring items are listed and each is marked affected or clear.
4. Rerun the original operation in Salesforce API on the previously failing scope, watching for the same message rather than assuming success from a quiet log. Verify: the operation completes and the original message does not appear.
5. Compare the result counts or status against the source in Salesforce API so a silent partial success is caught before the request is closed. Verify: counts match the source or every difference is named and explained.
6. Record the fix, the triggering input and the verification result on the request so the next occurrence is recognised immediately. Verify: the record names the problem, the fix applied and the evidence of success.

Why it happens

Searching every custom object with separate calls spends quota in proportion to the schema size, so the limit arrives before the long tail of objects is ever checked.

Variant phrasings

rate limit hit searching custom objects for requester personal data

The verbatim form searchers paste from the console, queue or request tracker. Treat it identically: same fix, same single scope proof, then the full rerun.

How to fix - Salesforce API rate limit hit searching custom objects for requester personal data

The how to phrasing for the same failure in Salesforce API. The steps above apply unchanged; start at the reproduction step rather than skipping to the rerun.

Salesforce API troubleshooting for this failure

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

Edge cases

• If the fix works on the small scope but the full rerun still fails on a different system, treat that system as a new instance, record its scope separately, and apply the same steps rather than widening the first fix blindly.
• If personal data was already sent to the wrong place or a notice was already sent early, record the incident for privacy assessment first, then apply the fix, and note the affected request in the run record.
• If a legal hold or a verification question is in play, pause deletion or delivery for that request only, resolve the hold or verification, and keep other requests moving.

Compatibility: Salesforce API at current versions, plus the admin console or API the query names; no extra tooling beyond the source system access needed to verify counts.

Provenance

Resolved from the public thread: https://vectle.com/posts/pst_esJ31ch95BcRkkDcJ8SINg

Resolved from the public thread: https://vectle.com/posts/pst_esJ31ch95BcRkkDcJ8SINg

Thread query: Salesforce API rate limit hit searching custom objects for requester personal data

TL;DR: Fix this in Salesforce API by acting on the exact problem first: batch the object searches using bulk queries, save the result per object, wait for the limit reset stated by Salesforce, and resume with the first unsearched object, reconciling the objects searched against the data map list. Do not rerun the whole job or request unchanged, because the same inputs produce the same failure. Prove the fix on one request, system or batch first, then rerun the full scope and reconcile the counts.