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Rate limits

The Filebase S3 API has an effective rate limit of 500 requests per second per account. The Platform API has the same limit. Excess requests return:

HTTP/1.1 503 Slow Down

with the standard S3 error body. The standard AWS SDK retry behavior — exponential backoff with jitter — handles this gracefully, so most workloads never see the error from application code.

What counts as a request​

Each HTTP call to s3.filebase.io counts as one request, regardless of object size:

  • One PutObject = one request.
  • One GetObject = one request.
  • One multipart upload of a 1 GB file with 100 parts = 102 requests (Create, 100 × UploadPart, Complete).
  • One pre-signed URL fetch = one request, regardless of how many bytes are returned.

ListObjectsV2 is paginated — every page of up to 1,000 keys is one request.

Working with the limit​

Burst-friendly retries​

The default AWS SDK retry policy is well-tuned. You don't need to write custom logic in most cases. Verify your client is using the default retryer, not a no-retry policy.

Concurrency limits​

If you're driving Filebase from a worker pool, cap the pool size to keep your sustained rate well below 500 RPS. A pool of 50 concurrent workers each averaging 10 RPS approaches the limit but stays under it.

Bulk operations​

DeleteObjects deletes up to 1,000 objects per request — far cheaper than 1,000 separate DeleteObject calls. Use it when bulk-deleting:

aws --endpoint https://s3.filebase.io s3 rm s3://my-bucket/prefix/ --recursive

The CLI batches into DeleteObjects calls automatically.

Backoff and jitter​

If you do hit 503 SlowDown, back off with jitter. Constant-interval retries from many clients can synchronize and keep the rate above the limit indefinitely. Add a random delay component:

const baseMs = 50;
const jitter = Math.random() * 50;
await sleep(baseMs * 2 ** retryNumber + jitter);

The default AWS SDK retryer does this automatically.

Need a higher limit?​

If your sustained workload exceeds 500 RPS, contact hello@filebase.com — higher limits are available for paid customers.

Public bucket reads​

Anonymous reads from public buckets served through the Filebase CDN are not rate-limited per account — the CDN absorbs traffic at the edge. The 500 RPS limit applies to authenticated S3 API calls.

What's next​