TL;DR: WhatsApp error
130429means your sending rate exceeded the throughput Meta currently allows for that business phone number. Slow down, queue traffic, and spread volume; retrying hot makes it worse.
What Error 130429 Means
Meta's details string is: "Cloud API message throughput has been reached." (Throttling error — confirmed verbatim; Meta's own example payload uses this exact code and string, message form "(#130429) Rate limit hit".) It's the per-number send-throughput limit, distinct from recipient-pair throttling (131056) and WABA-management polling limits (80007).
Where You See It
An immediate API error during sends when traffic to one business phone number exceeds its allowed throughput.
Meta also returns 130429 with subcode 2655131 from the business username API when a phone number has changed its username too often (2 times per rolling 14 days). That case is not throughput; see Username Change Limit.
Common Causes
- A campaign/automation sends too many messages through one number at once.
- The app scales horizontally without a per-number throughput gate.
- Retries during a spike amplify the spike.
How to Fix It
- Throttle outgoing sends for the affected number; queue and drain at a controlled rate.
- Add retry backoff with jitter.
- If you run multiple numbers, spread traffic deliberately rather than flooding one.
- Recheck your traffic model after the spike so it doesn't recur.
How to Prevent It
- Enforce throughput per phone number, not only per application.
- Per Meta's Throughput doc, Cloud API supports up to 80 messages per second by default per registered business phone number, with higher levels possible via upgrade. A Coexistence number is fixed at 20 messages per second, so its ceiling is lower.
- Pre-warm high-volume jobs instead of launching full volume on a cold sender. See Capacity, Quality & Limits.
Related Errors
/docs/whatsapp-error-131056— pair rate limit/docs/whatsapp-error-80007— WABA management rate limit/docs/whatsapp-error-131048— quality/spam restriction- See the full error reference
FAQ
Is 130429 a global app rate limit? Not exactly — in Cloud API practice it's primarily the send-throughput limit for the business phone number.
What is the current default throughput? Meta's Throughput doc says 80 messages per second by default per registered business phone number, and a fixed 20 messages per second for a Coexistence number.
Will retrying immediately help? No — it usually makes the burst worse.
How Dualhook Helps
This is a send-side problem; throughput control belongs in your sender backend. Dualhook streams each outbound request to Meta without retaining the message body and does not automatically retry sends. It surfaces the current limit guidance in Capacity, Quality & Limits and account visibility in Messaging Health Status so you can understand the ceiling and stay under it with your queueing layer. Dualhook's own limit of 80 /messages requests per second per connection returns HTTP 429 with Retry-After before the request reaches Meta; that is a Runtime API rate limit, not 130429.