AE-ZJSMMDTB

Coding agent's large prompts hit provider token rate limits (429), interrupting tasks; header-aware retries added later only partly helped

COST FAILUREseverity: HIGHcause: UNKNOWNoutcome: MITIGATEDconfidence: LOW

Users of a coding agent with the Anthropic API frequently hit 429 per-minute token rate limits even on small edits, while the agent's displayed token counts were far lower than provider usage; one user measured about 35,000 tokens of prompt before any code was added. Tasks were interrupted and the manual retry restarted the task. A merged change added automatic 429 retries with header-based timing and exponential backoff, but users still reported 429 errors in later versions.

Framework / agent: Cline · IDE coding agent
Remediation attempts: PARTIAL SUCCESSPARTIAL SUCCESS
Recurrence: not documented
Source languages: en
Updated: 2026-09-30

Sources

GITHUB ISSUE 429 {"type":"error","error":{"type":"rate_limit_error","message":"Number of request tokens has exceeded your per-minute rate limit in cline when it has not been used for days. — github.com/cline/cline, retrieved 2026-09-29
GITHUB PULL REQUEST feat: add retry decorator with rate limit handling — github.com/cline/cline, retrieved 2026-09-29

Public sample: the full evidence record is free.

Symptoms

Simple tasks immediately fail with a 429 per-minute request-token rate-limit error REPORTED CLAIM
The agent's prompt is about 35,000 tokens before any code is added, including full paths of all project files REPORTED CLAIM
The retry button restarts the task instead of continuing, repeatedly consuming money REPORTED CLAIM

Error messages (verbatim)

Number of request tokens has exceeded your per-minute rate limit

Context and trigger

Agent type: IDE coding agent
Component: provider API request handling / retry; prompt construction
Framework: Cline
Model: Claude 3.5 Sonnet (reported)
Task: code editing tasks

Using a provider account with low per-minute token limits (e.g. lower Anthropic tiers) while the agent sends large prompts on every request REPORTED CLAIM

Open questions

Why the displayed token count differed from provider-reported usage was not explained in the sources.
Whether the post-fix 429 reports come from exhausted retries or other causes was not investigated.

Root cause UNKNOWN

Not established by the sources.

no verified evidence about the cause

Remediation attempts (2)

PARTIAL SUCCESSconfig_changeby third_party

User workaround: switch from the Anthropic API to Claude via GCP Vertex API; made the agent usable at higher cost, but 429 errors still occurred occasionally.

Status basis: documented as only partly fixing the failure. Verification: not verified.

I've switched to using GCP Vertex API (still Claude model) from Anthropic. It costs my company more, but it makes Cline usable (it isn't usable with Anthropic Tier 1 service, IMHO). Although less common, I still receive the following errorthird_party · github.com/cline/cline

PARTIAL SUCCESSexponential_backoffby contributor

Add a retry decorator to all providers that retries only 429 errors, using retry-after / rate-limit reset headers when present and exponential backoff otherwise (max 3 retries). Merged with unit tests; later users still reported frequent 429 errors.

Status basis: documented as only partly fixing the failure. Verification: not verified.

Change: https://github.com/cline/cline/pull/1605 · merged · tests changed

Excerpt of the change (.changeset/modern-knives-tan.md, Apache-2.0):

@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+---
+"claude-dev": patch
+---
+
+Add automatic retry for rate limited requests

Added a new `@[user]` decorator that automatically handles 429 (rate limit) errorscontributor · github.com/cline/cline · personal data masked

I don't think this is completely fixed. I'm using version 3.4.5 and I'm getting this error.third_party · github.com/cline/cline

Using clinebot v3.8.5 with Bedrock/Claude v3.7 and Cline almost unusable due to "429 Too many tokens" errors. I am not clear why this issue is closed.third_party · github.com/cline/cline

Outcome outcome: MITIGATED

only partial remediation documented

Recurrence

Not documented in the sources (absence of reports is not evidence of absence).

Confidence LOW

Cause or remediation is reported, but not confirmed by the affected project.

Factor	Present	Meaning
first_party_evidence	no	a quote from the affected project/vendor (or a controlled test)
fix_applied	no	a fix was merged/released
regression_test	yes	tests changed with the fix
independent_confirmation	no	reporter/maintainer/vendor confirmed the failure is gone
root_cause_verified	no	cause stated by the project and addressed by the fix
reproduction_documented	no	steps or conditions to reproduce were quoted
multiple_independent_sources	no	1 independent source group(s)
failed_attempts_documented	no	unsuccessful remediation recorded

All evidence (7 verified quotes)

429 {"type":"error","error":{"type":"rate_limit_error","message":"Number of request tokens has exceeded your per-minute rate limitreporter · github.com/cline/cline

The prompt cline is sending without any code added is over 135,000 chars or 35,000 tokens before it even gets to working with code. It includes the full path of all files in my project.third_party · github.com/cline/cline

The most stupid aspetto for this story is that the retry button doesn’t continue the task, but it starts again. So it generates ad infinite loop and money consuming.third_party · github.com/cline/cline

I've switched to using GCP Vertex API (still Claude model) from Anthropic. It costs my company more, but it makes Cline usable (it isn't usable with Anthropic Tier 1 service, IMHO). Although less common, I still receive the following errorthird_party · github.com/cline/cline

Added a new `@[user]` decorator that automatically handles 429 (rate limit) errorscontributor · github.com/cline/cline · personal data masked

I don't think this is completely fixed. I'm using version 3.4.5 and I'm getting this error.third_party · github.com/cline/cline

Using clinebot v3.8.5 with Bedrock/Claude v3.7 and Cline almost unusable due to "429 Too many tokens" errors. I am not clear why this issue is closed.third_party · github.com/cline/cline

Categories: COST FAILURE RETRY LOOP · extraction curated, gate-2026-09-29-v1

Similarity to your system is not implied. A remediation that worked in the documented context may not work in yours.