Attio Performance Tuning
Overview
Attio's REST API returns JSON over HTTPS. Performance optimization focuses on reducing request count (batching, caching), maximizing throughput (connection reuse, pagination), and minimizing latency (selective field fetching, parallel queries).
Key Performance Facts
| Factor | Detail |
|--------|--------|
| Rate limit | Sliding 10-second window, shared across all tokens |
| Pagination default | limit: 500 (max per page) |
| API base | https://api.attio.com/v2 |
| Auth overhead | Bearer token in header (minimal) |
| Response format | JSON only (no binary/protobuf) |
Instructions
Strategy 1: Response Caching with LRU
Cache read-heavy data (object schemas, attribute definitions) that rarely change:
import { LRUCache } from "lru-cache";
const cache = new LRUCache<string, unknown>({
max: 500, // Max entries
ttl: 5 * 60 * 1000, // 5 minutes for schema data
});
async function cachedGet<T>(
client: AttioClient,
path: string,
ttlMs?: number
): Promise<T> {
const cached = cache.get(path) as T | undefined;
if (cached) return cached;
const result = await client.get<T>(path);
cache.set(path, result, { ttl: ttlMs });
return result;
}
// Schema data: cache for 30 minutes (rarely changes)
const objects = await cachedGet(client, "/objects", 30 * 60 * 1000);
const attrs = await cachedGet(client, "/objects/people/attributes", 30 * 60 * 1000);
// Record data: cache for 1-5 minutes (changes more often)
const person = await cachedGet(client, `/objects/people/records/${id}`, 60 * 1000);
Strategy 2: Batch Queries Instead of N+1
// BAD: N+1 pattern -- one request per email lookup
const people = [];
for (const email of customerEmails) {
const res = await client.post("/objects/people/records/query", {
filter: { email_addresses: email },
limit: 1,
});
people.push(res.data[0]);
}
// Cost: N requests
// GOOD: Single query with $in operator
const allPeople = await client.post<{ data: AttioRecord[] }>(
"/objects/people/records/query",
{
filter: {
email_addresses: {
email_address: { $in: customerEmails },
},
},
limit: customerEmails.length,
}
);
// Cost: 1 request
Strategy 3: Parallel Independent Queries
// Fetch multiple object types in parallel
const [people, companies, deals] = await Promise.all([
client.post<{ data: AttioRecord[] }>(
"/objects/people/records/query",
{ limit: 100 }
),
client.post<{ data: AttioRecord[] }>(
"/objects/companies/records/query",
{ limit: 100 }
),
client.post<{ data: AttioRecord[] }>(
"/objects/deals/records/query",
{ limit: 100 }
),
]);
Strategy 4: Efficient Pagination
// Use maximum page size (500) to minimize round trips
async function fetchAllRecords(
client: AttioClient,
objectSlug: string,
filter?: Record<string, unknown>
): Promise<AttioRecord[]> {
const PAGE_SIZE = 500; // Attio's maximum
const allRecords: AttioRecord[] = [];
let offset = 0;
while (true) {
const page = await client.post<{ data: AttioRecord[] }>(
`/objects/${objectSlug}/records/query`,
{
...(filter ? { filter } : {}),
limit: PAGE_SIZE,
offset,
}
);
allRecords.push(...page.data);
// If we got fewer than PAGE_SIZE, we've reached the end
if (page.data.length < PAGE_SIZE) break;
offset += PAGE_SIZE;
}
return allRecords;
}
Strategy 5: Streaming Pagination with AsyncGenerator
For processing large datasets without loading everything into memory:
async function* streamRecords(
client: AttioClient,
objectSlug: string,
filter?: Record<string, unknown>
): AsyncGenerator<AttioRecord> {
const PAGE_SIZE = 500;
let offset = 0;
let hasMore = true;
while (hasMore) {
const page = await client.post<{ data: AttioRecord[] }>(
`/objects/${objectSlug}/records/query`,
{ ...(filter ? { filter } : {}), limit: PAGE_SIZE, offset }
);
for (const record of page.data) {
yield record;
}
hasMore = page.data.length === PAGE_SIZE;
offset += PAGE_SIZE;
}
}
// Process without loading all records into memory
let count = 0;
for await (const record of streamRecords(client, "people")) {
await processRecord(record);
count++;
}
console.log(`Processed ${count} records`);
Strategy 6: Connection Keep-Alive
import { Agent } from "https";
// Reuse TCP connections across requests
const keepAliveAgent = new Agent({
keepAlive: true,
maxSockets: 10,
maxFreeSockets: 5,
timeout: 30_000,
});
// Use with node-fetch or undici
import { fetch as undiciFetch, Agent as UndiciAgent } from "undici";
const dispatcher = new UndiciAgent({
keepAliveTimeout: 30_000,
keepAliveMaxTimeout: 60_000,
connections: 10,
});
const res = await undiciFetch("https://api.attio.com/v2/objects", {
headers: { Authorization: `Bearer ${process.env.ATTIO_API_KEY}` },
dispatcher,
});
Strategy 7: Webhook-Driven Cache Invalidation
Instead of polling for changes, use webhooks to invalidate cached data:
const recordCache = new LRUCache<string, AttioRecord>({ max: 5000, ttl: 300_000 });
// On webhook event
async function handleCacheInvalidation(event: AttioWebhookEvent): Promise<void> {
switch (event.event_type) {
case "record.updated":
case "record.deleted":
case "record.merged":
recordCache.delete(event.record?.id?.record_id || "");
break;
}
}
Strategy 8: Request Timing and Monitoring
async function timedRequest<T>(
name: string,
operation: () => Promise<T>
): Promise<T> {
const start = performance.now();
try {
const result = await operation();
const duration = performance.now() - start;
console.log(JSON.stringify({
metric: "attio_api_duration_ms",
operation: name,
duration: Math.round(duration),
status: "success",
}));
return result;
} catch (err) {
const duration = performance.now() - start;
console.error(JSON.stringify({
metric: "attio_api_duration_ms",
operation: name,
duration: Math.round(duration),
status: "error",
error: (err as Error).message,
}));
throw err;
}
}
// Usage
const people = await timedRequest("query_people", () =>
client.post("/objects/people/records/query", { limit: 100 })
);
Error Handling
| Performance issue | Symptom | Solution |
|------------------|---------|----------|
| N+1 queries | Slow bulk operations | Use $in filter in single query |
| Cache miss storm | Burst of identical requests | Use stale-while-revalidate or mutex |
| Memory pressure | Large dataset pagination | Use AsyncGenerator streaming |
| Connection overhead | High latency per request | Enable keep-alive agent |
| Stale cached data | Showing outdated records | Add webhook-driven invalidation |
Resources
Next Steps
For cost optimization, see attio-cost-tuning.