Hi
When working with Airtable, we all know there’s a limit of 5 API calls per sec.
My question is, once the app is published and used by a number of users, is Thunkable managing the API Calls so we dont hit this limit? I guess yes, but id like to confirm.
Thanks!
@fedegarcia30hzc97a You as the developer are managing this, Thunkable is just the platform that executes the code you build via blocks.
Hi Matt
Yes, my app will not make 5 API calls in a second when accesing as a single user, but…what if i have 50 or 1000 users accesing at the same time to the published app? How can i can control the API calls from each user acessing my app from thunkable?
When you connect your Airtable database to Thunkable, you have to configure an API key or maybe now it’s OAuth (Airtable | Thunkable Docs) and those calls will be charged to you. So if you have two users or 2,000 users, the cost depends on your subscription with Airtable.
i paid for the year and i saw no difference in performance
Sorry, I don’t see how that’s relevant. Are you worried about a large number of users affecting the speed of your app because of the Airtable calls? I don’t think you can change that with a different Airtable license unless they offer that.
Hi
Im not worried about performance but on the 5 API calls per second cap. If you hit that limit then you’ll start encountering API limitations. You can read through this limitation here:
Airtable enforces a rate limit of 5 requests per second (per base) to ensure optimal user performance across all pricing tiers. Additionally, there is a limit of 50 requests per second for all traffic using personal access tokens from a given user or service account. If you exceed this rate, you will receive a 429 status code and must wait 30 seconds before subsequent requests will succeed. API integrations should pause and wait before retrying the API request—behavior handled automatically by the official JavaScript client—with back-off and retry logic.
Airtable has that 5 API calls per second limit for all pricing tiers so there’s no way to get around that. You might have to consider a different service.
Hello!
I had a similar problem a few months ago. It cost me time to try to reach Airtable’s support to get an answer.
Neither Thunkable nor Airtable are tracking the API usage, but i guess this will clarify a bit.
This is the best answer i got:
and
If they are all accessing at the same time, this would go against the limit enforced by Airtable. All we’d see on our end is a 4xx error. As others have said above, there is not much we Thunkable can do about this. If you think your app will go beyond these limits, you’ll want to consider using a different database.
In theory, you can track the amount of API calls that are being made. Two ways I can think of (not tested, just theory):
Check for error. If you hit the limit, I believe that Airtable will throw an error back. You can account for an error and give a user-friendly message.
Count it using cloud variables. Let’s say cloud variable aCount (Airtable count) = 0.
Before you make an Airtable call, check the aCount. Might need to do some math to make sure that making this call is safe. If it is safe, then process with the Airtable call, then increment the aCount by 1. If it isn’t safe, then it is up to you how to handle it.
