Ask HN: Hacker News API - Javascript client - do you include timeouts?

I have a question in regards to the HN API. I'm experimenting with the official javascript library. I'm writing a script to collect data, and I'm trying to make sure I'm not abusing the API. I've never worked with firebase before, my question is about query rates. The README says there are no rate limits, but is it still considered good practice to introduce a pause in between reads, to not flood the database with requests?

For example, I want to read all items for a single day. I tried something like `db.ref('/v0/item').orderByChild('time').startAt(timestamp)`, but that does not appear to be allowed. So, we need to iterate items individually. Is it appropriate to just iterate `db.ref('/v0/item').once('value)` calls as fast as the code will take me? Or should I still introduce a timeout to slow things down, like I would if I were hitting a regular REST API? I'm a little unsure with how firebase works under the hood. The HN API repo says the client libraries 'handle networking efficiently', but I'm not sure that means the same thing.