What is message pacing?
People send messages at human speed. Software can send hundreds a minute. Pacing is what keeps an AI agent on the human side of that line.
In one sentence
Message pacing means leaving a gap between messages and capping how many go out in an hour and a day, so an account sends at a speed a person could.
In more detail
Messaging platforms look at how fast and how regularly an account sends. Messages fired off every second, or at perfectly even intervals, are a strong sign of automation.
Pacing adds a minimum gap between messages and daily caps, and spreads activity out the way a person's would be.
Pacing matters most for conversations you start. It also applies to replies, but a few seconds of delay is invisible to a customer.
Picture someone answering a queue of messages on a busy Saturday. They read one, type a reply, send it and move on. Even when they are quick, there are a few seconds between each message, and the pace rises and falls through the day. Pacing makes software behave the same way.
There are three parts: a minimum gap between any two messages from the same account, an hourly cap on new conversations, and a daily cap on messages and on new conversations. Each one catches a different kind of problem.
Spaces' pacing on each channel
| Channel | Minimum gap Spaces leaves | Messages a day | New chats (after warm-up) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 15 seconds | 200 | 5 an hour, 10 a day | |
| 15 seconds | 80 | 6 an hour, 20 a day | |
| 20 seconds | 100 | 8 an hour, 30 a day | |
| Messenger | 20 seconds | 40 | 3 an hour, 8 a day |
| X | 20 seconds | 100 | 5 an hour, 20 a day |
| 30 seconds | 80 | 8 an hour, 40 a day | |
| iMessage (coming soon) | 10 seconds | 200 | 5 an hour, 20 a day |
These limits belong to each connected account. Two WhatsApp numbers each have their own, and new accounts start lower while they warm up.
The three parts of pacing
| Part | What it stops |
|---|---|
| A gap between messages | Bursts of messages seconds apart, which look like software rather than a person. |
| An hourly cap on new chats | A sudden rush of new conversations, such as an agent working through a long list in one go. |
| A daily cap | Slow, steady overuse across a whole day, and mistakes that run unnoticed overnight. |
What a busy morning looks like
A bakery's WhatsApp number gets three messages within a minute. Times are examples.
| Time | What happens |
|---|---|
| 9:00:00 | Three customers message about Saturday cake orders. |
| 9:00:20 | The agent replies to the first customer. |
| 9:00:35 | It replies to the second, 15 seconds later. |
| 9:00:50 | It replies to the third, another 15 seconds later. |
Each customer waits seconds, not minutes. Even ten replies in a row take only a little over two minutes at WhatsApp's 15-second gap, which is faster than most people could type them.
What happens when an agent sends too fast
- The agent asks Spaces to send a message.
- Spaces checks the account: the time since its last message, the hourly and daily totals, and whether the person has said stop.
- If it is too soon, Spaces holds the message. Nothing is sent, and Spaces tells the agent how many seconds to wait.
- The agent waits and tries again with the same message. Spaces recognises it, so the customer never receives it twice.
- If the daily limit is reached, sending starts again the next day.
You do not have to do anything when this happens. It is normal, and it is the system working as intended.
Pacing, warm-up and limits: how they fit together
| Term | What it controls |
|---|---|
| Pacing gap | The minimum time between two messages from the same account. |
| Warm-up | How many new conversations a newly connected account may start while it builds a history. |
| Daily limits | The most messages and new conversations an account sends in a day. |
| Working hours | Scheduled messages and routines can carry working hours, so they wait until your day starts. |
How pacing protects you from your own mistakes
Imagine you tell your agent to "follow up with everyone who hasn't replied", and a routine runs that instruction every hour. Without limits, a small slip in wording could send hundreds of messages before anyone noticed.
With pacing and daily caps, the damage stays small and slow enough for you to spot. Spaces also refuses the same cold text sent to many people, and if something does look wrong, you can pause all sending for the workspace at once while you look. Reading conversations keeps working while sending is paused.
Scheduled messages: bunched up or spread out
A dental practice sends next-day appointment reminders. Names and times are examples.
| Bunched up | Spread out |
|---|---|
| Twenty reminders all scheduled for exactly 9:00am | Reminders scheduled between 9:00am and 11:00am, a few minutes apart |
| Spaces still paces them, so the last one goes out several minutes later than planned | Each one goes out close to its planned time |
| The account sends in one tight burst every morning, at the same minute | The pattern looks like a receptionist working through a list |
Spaces keeps both safe by holding the gaps, but spreading the times yourself gives a more natural pattern and reminders that arrive when you expect. It also leaves room for replies to customers who write in at the same time.
What you can control
- Set a lower daily limit for an account if you want to be more careful than the channel limit.
- Give scheduled messages and routines working hours, so they wait until your day starts.
- Pause the agent in a single conversation, pause the agent, or pause all sending in the workspace at once.
- Schedule messages for a local time, spread across the morning rather than all at once.
- Check how many messages and new chats an account has left today, through your agent, before planning a batch of follow-ups.
What you cannot do is make the gaps shorter or the caps higher than the channel's limits. That is deliberate, because a limit that can be switched off in a hurry protects nobody.
Common mistakes
- Trying to send more by spreading one job across extra accounts or workspaces. Spaces is not for working around limits, and platforms tend to notice.
- Scheduling everything for exactly 9:00. Spread scheduled messages across the morning instead.
- Treating the daily limit as a target. It is a ceiling. Most small businesses send far fewer.
- Assuming pacing makes any message safe. Who you message and what you send matter just as much as speed.
Why it matters for your business
- It lowers the chance of an account being flagged for automation.
- It stops a mistake, like a loop in an agent's instructions, from sending hundreds of messages.
- Customers barely notice a few seconds' delay.
- It keeps your sending pattern looking like a person's, even on your busiest day.
How Spaces handles it
Spaces enforces pacing on every account, whatever the AI agent asks for. If an agent tries to send too fast, Spaces holds the message and tells the agent when it can try again.
The limits apply to every message, whether it comes from your agent, a scheduled message or a routine. Spaces lowers the risk of a restriction, but it cannot guarantee a platform will never act on an account.
In short
Message pacing keeps an account sending at a human speed: a gap between messages, a cap on new conversations each hour and a cap each day. Customers barely notice it, and it keeps both platform suspicion and your own mistakes small.
You do not need to manage it yourself, because Spaces enforces it for every account. The limits page lists the numbers for each channel, and the guide on hitting a limit explains what your agent sees when one is reached.
FAQ
Can I turn pacing off?
No. Pacing applies to every account, whatever the agent asks. If you want to go slower still, tell your agent to send less.
Will customers wait longer for replies?
Only by seconds. The gaps are between your own messages, not a delay before the first reply.
Does pacing guarantee my account is safe?
No. It lowers the risk. What you send and who you send it to matter just as much.
Why are the gaps different on each channel?
Spaces sets each channel's limits from what is known about that platform. X publishes no figures, so Spaces uses conservative limits of its own there.
Do limits add up across my accounts?
Each connected account has its own limits. Two numbers do not share one allowance, but using extra accounts to get around a limit is not what Spaces is for.
Can I send a message at a set time?
Yes. You can schedule a message for a local time, inside working hours you choose. Scheduled messages follow the same pacing and limits as any other.
What happens to a message that is held back?
Nothing is sent. Your agent waits the time Spaces gives it and tries again with the same message, and scheduled messages simply wait their turn.
Does pacing apply to email too?
Yes. Spaces leaves at least 30 seconds between emails from the same mailbox and sends one email at a time to one person. It never sends bulk email.