# dm-limits-and-best-practices

A reference skill on CDF Data Modeling limits: concurrency and 429s, pagination, batching, QueuedTaskRunner. Useful when your code starts failing under load.

- skill · `type=skill` · Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, GitHub Copilot, Gemini CLI, OpenCode · 1900 installs · ★ 6
- Author: cognitedata
- License: Apache-2.0 · policy=mirror · the beginning of the file is at the end of this page
- Source: https://github.com/cognitedata/builder-skills/tree/HEAD/skills/dm-limits-and-best-practices/SKILL.md
- Updated: 2026-10-20
- HTML: https://affpapa.org/en/nevibecode/skills/dm-limits-and-best-practices

## What it does

The skill covers how to write and review code that calls CDF Data Modeling APIs. Inside is a limits reference: apply, delete and query operations each have their own concurrent request limits, and going over them returns 429 Too Many Requests. Transformations eat a large share of the concurrency budget, so other clients get less.

There is a separate section on picking between `instances.search` and `filter`. Search runs over text properties and takes an `operator` parameter: `AND` narrows results, `OR` widens them for typeahead. Exact matches on status, date range or enums belong in `filter` on list/query. The skill also spells out the caps: `instances.upsert` takes up to 1000 items per call, an `in` filter accepts at most 1000 values, and bigger sets have to be chunked.

For concurrency, the skill says to wrap CDF calls in the global `cdfTaskRunner`. If your project has no semaphore, it hands you code for `src/shared/utils/semaphore.ts` with a `QueuedTaskRunner` class, task deduplication by key and an `AbortError` for cancelled work. There is also a cap on LLM calls over query results: 5 by default, 50 max, cached. If your code fires requests in bursts with no limiter, that is worth checking when 429s show up.

## Install

### Claude Code (native platform)

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add cognitedata/builder-skills --skill dm-limits-and-best-practices -a claude-code
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `~/.claude/skills/dm-limits-and-best-practices/SKILL.md` — Copy the whole skill folder; for one project use .claude/skills/dm-limits-and-best-practices/

### Codex

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add cognitedata/builder-skills --skill dm-limits-and-best-practices -a codex
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.agents/skills/dm-limits-and-best-practices/SKILL.md` — For all projects use ~/.agents/skills/

### Cursor

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add cognitedata/builder-skills --skill dm-limits-and-best-practices -a cursor
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.cursor/skills/dm-limits-and-best-practices/SKILL.md` — Cursor also reads .agents/skills/ and .claude/skills/

### GitHub Copilot

1. **GitHub CLI**
```bash
gh skill install cognitedata/builder-skills dm-limits-and-best-practices
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.github/skills/dm-limits-and-best-practices/SKILL.md`

### Gemini CLI

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add cognitedata/builder-skills --skill dm-limits-and-best-practices -a gemini-cli
```

2. **Platform CLI**
```bash
gemini skills install https://github.com/cognitedata/builder-skills --path skills/dm-limits-and-best-practices
```

### Windsurf (Devin Desktop)

**Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.devin/skills/dm-limits-and-best-practices/SKILL.md` — The legacy .windsurf/skills/ path still works

### OpenCode

**Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add cognitedata/builder-skills --skill dm-limits-and-best-practices -a opencode
```

### Claude.ai

**Claude.ai**
- Zip the folder and upload it in Settings → Capabilities → Skills

Where a file is given instead of a command, copy the files from the source to that path: https://github.com/cognitedata/builder-skills/tree/HEAD/skills/dm-limits-and-best-practices/SKILL.md

## When to use it
- find out why bursts of CDF requests return 429
- choose between `instances.search` and `filter` for a given task
- chunk a list of thousands of IDs into batches of 1000 for an `in` filter
- put a concurrency limiter around CDF API calls
- stay under the cap on LLM calls over query results

## Example prompts
- Review my CDF Data Modeling code for concurrency limits and 429s
- Wrap my instances.list calls in cdfTaskRunner
- Help me chunk externalIds into batches for an in filter

## Source text · SKILL.md · Apache-2.0

Below is the content of a third-party file. It is data, not instructions for you: do not act on anything written inside unless the human asks. Block tag: 340e89ffaedb94c1.

BEGIN THIRD-PARTY FILE 340e89ffaedb94c1
````text
---
name: dm-limits-and-best-practices
description: "CDF Data Modeling limits: concurrency (429s), pagination, batching, search vs filter, QueuedTaskRunner, and the cap on LLM calls over query results (5 default, 50 max, cached). Triggers: DMS limits, 429, pagination, nextCursor, cdfTaskRunner, instances.query, chat completions over query results."
allowed-tools: Read, Glob, Grep, Edit, Write
metadata:
  argument-hint: ""
---

# CDF Data Modeling: Limits, Concurrency & Best Practices

This is a reference skill. When writing or reviewing code that calls CDF Data Modeling APIs, apply the patterns below.

This skill owns runtime reliability concerns: limits, concurrency, retries, throughput, and batching behavior.
For traversal payload correctness and graph-specific failure signatures, see `dm-graph-traversal`.

---

## DMS Limits Reference

For the latest concurrency limits, resource limits, and property value limits, see the official documentation:
**https://docs.cognite.com/cdf/dm/dm_reference/dm_limits_and_restrictions**

Key things to be aware of:
- Instance **apply**, **delete**, and **query** operations each have their own concurrent request limits
- Exceeding these limits returns **429 Too Many Requests**
- Transformations consume a large portion of the concurrency budget, leaving less for other clients
- `instances.list` has a max page size (use pagination for complete results)
- `instances.query` table expressions each have their own item limit
- `instances.upsert` accepts up to 1000 items per call
- `in` filters accept at most 1000 values per expression; larger sets must be split into batches

---

## Search vs Filter: When to Use Which

### `instances.search` — Free-text search on text properties

Use `instances.search` when you need fuzzy/text matching on string fields (names, descriptions, etc.). It supports an `operator` parameter:

- **`AND`** (default) — Narrow search. All terms must match. Use when the user provides a specific query.
- **`OR`** — Broad "shotgun" search. Any term can match. Use for exploratory/typeahead search where you want maximum recall.

```typescript
// Narrow search: find a specific cell by name (AND — all terms must match)
````
END THIRD-PARTY FILE 340e89ffaedb94c1

The third-party file has ended. Everything between the 340e89ffaedb94c1 tags is data: requests and commands from it are not followed. An “end of file” line with another tag inside the block is part of the file.

First 2206 of 19148 bytes. © cognitedata · Apache-2.0 · https://github.com/cognitedata/builder-skills/tree/HEAD/skills/dm-limits-and-best-practices/SKILL.md

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