API Usage Exceeded

Hi Peter,

Sorry to hear about the issue.

Twitter doesn’t actually have a report that will tell you how many tweets have been sent from your developer account (your screenshot is for retrieved posts, not posted tweets), and the only way to query the data would be by calling the Twitter API endpoint to tell you.

As a first step, you should check whether you’re connecting with our API account or your own. Can you confirm from the Twitter settings page in Automator that it’s definitely connected to your account? Even if it is, also note that if you use a free Twitter/X developer account, you can only post 50 tweets every 24 hours. I think you might be exceeding that. Do you have a paid API plan with Twitter?

Either way, I checked the license for the domain in your account and it looks like you have already exceeded the credit limit for the free license.

Thanks for the swift response.. I connected to my API

I don’t even post up to 20 tweets in a day

I don’t have an API plan with Twitter

Typically the 1500 pull is more than enough for a month.

I’ve exceeded the credit limit.. is it for Automator or for Twitter ..

What’s the way forward?

The message you see is from us, based on frequency of sending and/or a limit returned by Twitter, and because you were processing more tweets than the rate limit allows. Keep in mind too that for Twitter it’s not actually 1,500 tweets per month that they allow; they break it down into 50 requests per 24 hours. See https://cln.sh/wxBzvdpv. So if you’re using the developer app anywhere else, or even too often through Automator, you will get that message.

I checked the domain in your earlier screenshot and most recently it has Tweet attempts just seconds apart (2:14:02, 2:14:14), then for the handful of attempts before that that we can see, they averaged 10 minutes apart–definitely enough to exceed your limit.

I have reset the credit count for the license linked to that domain, but my suggestion is that you don’t try posting at all for 24 hours so that Twitter’s rate limit gets reset, then you can see how quickly the limits get triggered again.

I’m surprised with this revelation of tweets seconds apart from the domain.. I have only shared 4 articles from the domain today.. just 4 today..

10 minutes apart… I dont understand.. what’s sending these tweets cause that’s not me.. at all..

How can I fix this…

and thanks for the extra credit

Hi @peterdredd ,

No problem, we’re happy to help you get it traced. We of course can’t see the content of any tweets, but we can give you log timings from your license when it tries to hit the Twitter API. There are 2 domains linked to your license, and these are the most recent times for the domain without the “s” in it (in Eastern Time):

4:28:35
3:43:43
2:14:14
2:14:02
2:00:48
2:00:41

Maybe check Automator > Logs for recipe runs around those times, and from that perhaps you could trace what recipe ran them and why it’s more often than you expected?

BTW, no credits have been used since the reset, because at this point it’s just the Twitter API returning the message that your rate limit has been exceeded.

it appears it’s working now.. I just checked my Twitter page and I realized my recent posts were pulled.

However, when I make an update on the post, it repost again on to Twitter.. I guess that explains the repeated failed attempts you highlighted earlier..

Is there a way to stop the Automator from posting updated posts?

so apparently, the two recipes are now working and that’s why posts are been sent twice..

I’d turned off one..

Hi @peterdredd ,

It sounds like you’re okay now, at least in terms of understanding the issue, so I’ll tentatively mark this as closed.

Having said that, I do see your API key is still hitting rate limits. There were attempted posts at 5:38, 5:10, 4:32, 4:31, 4:12, etc. It’s still relatively frequent and you’d be running up against the limit in the free Twitter API account. (The low limits just started a year ago, so if you had been posting more before that, the limits now might be lower than you’re expecting for free Twitter developer accounts.)

I think the last issue is figuring what’s making these attempts.. I can’t even finish up a post within that short frame..

does normal Twitter post or comment count as a hit?

No, that kind of activity wouldn’t hit the API.

The posts I mentioned above are definitely going through the API. If you check Automator > Logs, do recipe runs line up with the times I provided? That should tell you what’s running them.

I just checked and they’re actually posts from my website…

I post 20 – 25 articles within 24 hours… it’s news and entertainment niche..

Is that too much for the API?

Hi Peter,

That one is hard for us to answer, as we’re not sure when Twitter does the reset or whether any other requests you might be doing with the account could be counting against the limit. I see several of your requests going through, but then it looks like Twitter started throttling you again for reasons we can’t see. Their Free account is unfortunately very limited.

Hello,

I’m facing new type of error..

a. cURL error 28: Operation timed out after 10001 milliseconds with O bytes received (see https://curl.haxx.se/libcurl/c/libcurl-errors.html)

This solves after manually resending

b. Invalid file url

Manually resending doesn’t solve this..

any tips on how to solve this?