Limit

The Limit Step keeps up to a chosen number of entries from the start or end of a list.

At a glanceVerified in app · Oct 29, 2026

Use it to: Keep up to N items from the start (First) or end (Last) of a list
Find it: Tools → Data → Lists → Limit
Cost: 1 Step credit per execution
Limits: Up to 100,000 input items · Lists shorter than the limit are returned whole
Output: {{ N.results }} (the sliced list), {{ N.resultCount }}
Instead: Inline pipe ({{ 1.items | keep_first:5 }})

Use it to select the top ten sorted results or a small test batch. Limit controls record count, not request timing; configure concurrency and pacing separately for API rate limits.

Slicing inside a field? You can take the first N items of a list or shorten a string directly inside field tokens using Data Transformation:

First N list items: {{ 2.items | keep_first:3 }}
First / last item only: {{ 2.items | first }} or {{ 2.items | last }}
Shorten string length: {{ 2.description | limit:100 }}

Use the Limit canvas step when passing a sliced list into a downstream Loop or multi-step branch.

Setting it up

Choose the list

Pick it from the lists the field offers, which come from the steps before this one. Choose Enter it myself to type a reference such as {{ 3.results }} or paste a JSON list instead.

Say how many to keep

Enter a whole number in Number of items (default 10). Zero is allowed and returns an empty list.

Choose which end to take them from

Under Which end to keep, choose First (from the start of the list) or Last (from the end).

Order decides which ones survive

Limit has no opinion about which entries are the most important. It takes them from whichever end you chose, and the entries keep the order they were already in.

So sort first if “the top ten” means anything more than “any ten”. A Sort ahead of Limit turns it into the highest-value ten.

Taking from the end is the shortcut when the list is already in the order you want and you need its tail. The ten most recent entries, in a list sorted oldest first.

A list shorter than the limit comes back whole

Asking for ten when the list has four returns all four. It is not an error and nothing is padded.

What it passes on

The shortened list:


{{ 5.results }}

{{ 5.resultCount }} returns the number of items in {{ 5.results }}.

Examples to copy

The three biggest orders

A Sort step first: field total, type Number, descending
Then Limit: 3, from the beginning

Without the Sort, this is three arbitrary orders.

A small test batch

Use test recipients and place a Limit of 2 before per-item email processing. Limit reduces the number of records; it does not prevent real sends, even in Draft.

Before going live, confirm the intended recipient list and whether the limit should remain.

Limits

Limit works on lists of up to 100,000 items. A longer list is refused with a message naming both numbers, rather than being cut short. Split it first.

Verify it works

Run: Set Number of items to 3 and Which end to keep to First, then click Run step in Test & Debug
You should see: The Output tab returns up to 3 items under results and reports the count in resultCount.

What’s Next?

Sort: decide which entries end up first.
Filter: keep entries by a test rather than by count.
Loops & Iteration: do something with each entry that survives.