How often an event can repeat

Technical details of how Empath limits repeated events, and what that means for your receiver.

How often can the same event arrive?

Empath sends each event at most once per time window, per webhook:

• Course assigned — Window: 24 hours · Counted per: person + course
• Course completed — Window: 30 days · Counted per: person + course
• Failed knowledge check — Window: 1 hour · Counted per: person + knowledge check
• Content published — Window: 24 hours · Counted per: content item

Fixed windows, not rolling ones

The windows are fixed blocks of time counted in UTC, not rolling periods from the last event. For example, the 24-hour window is a UTC calendar day. So a course assigned at 23:59 UTC and assigned again at 00:01 UTC sends two events, even though they're two minutes apart.

Good to know

• These windows are Empath's protection against floods. Your receiver should still store each event's id and ignore repeats, because automatic retries reuse the same id. See “Retries, ordering and duplicates”.
• Webhooks follow their own rules. They aren't skipped because the same event already produced an email or a bell notification.

Still need help?

Reach out to your Partner Success Manager, or email us at support@empathmsp.com. We’re happy to help!

Related articles

• The four events and when they're sent
• Retries, ordering and duplicates