Incidents/ By cause/ Retry loops/ google-maps-api-10k-4days
BLOCK Retry loops Google (Maps) developer 2025

Google Maps API bill hit ~$10,000 in four days

A developer reported a bill close to $10,000 after four days of working with the Google Maps API, with runaway calls outpacing expected usage.

Reported loss~$10,000
Which rule would have stopped this?

An agent got stuck retrying a failing call, or entered a self-reinforcing loop. Each retry costs money. The fix is a velocity rule and a per-window cap. velocity + per-period total would have rejected or flagged this transaction before any money moved.

Daily / period total
A loop that's individually small but runs thousands of times overnight.
daily_max_usd: 200
Velocity limit
Infinite retry loops and credential-abuse bursts before the dollars pile up.
max_per_minute: 20

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What happened

A developer reported a bill close to $10,000 after four days of working with the Google Maps API, with runaway calls outpacing expected usage.

The root cause was classified as Retry / infinite loop. An agent got stuck retrying a failing call, or entered a self-reinforcing loop. Each retry costs money. The fix is a velocity rule and a per-window cap.

This is one of 14 documented incidents in the open registry. Every entry is sourced to a public URL; amounts and dates are as reported by the source.

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