How to send items one by one to Claude API (HTTP Request) to avoid 429?

Questions
1

Hi ! I have an HTTP Request node calling the Claude API. When multiple items arrive, they all hit Claude at the same time and I get 429 rate limit errors.
My nodes before Claude API: HTTP Request → Claude API (HTTP Request)
What is the best way to make items arrive one by one to the Claude API node?
Thanks
per right.
If your question hasn’t been asked before, please follow the template below. Skip the questions that are not relevant to you. →

Describe the problem/error/question

What is the error message (if any)?

Please share your workflow

(Select the nodes on your canvas and use the keyboard shortcuts CMD+C/CTRL+C and CMD+V/CTRL+V to copy and paste the workflow.)

Share the output returned by the last node

Information on your n8n setup

  • n8n version:
  • Database (default: SQLite):
  • n8n EXECUTIONS_PROCESS setting (default: own, main):
  • Running n8n via (Docker, npm, n8n cloud, desktop app):
  • Operating system:
2

Add a Loop Over Items node (batch size = 1) before your Claude HTTP Request, then a Wait node after it (e.g., 2 seconds delay). Connect the Wait output back to the Loop input, and use the Done output for your next steps. This processes one item at a time with delays between calls.

Alternatively, Ainoflow Guard handles rate limiting with one HTTP check before Claude - set your limit (e.g., 50 calls/min), it returns 200 to continue or 429 to wait.

4

The easiest way is actually built into the HTTP Request node itself, no extra nodes needed. Click on your Claude API HTTP Request node, go to Add Option → Batching, set Items per Batch to 1 and Batch Interval to something like 1500ms. Thatll send them one at a time with a delay between each call which should keep you under the rate limit.