---
name: BMF connector_status rate/ETA is unreliable
description: Don't quote the `rate` or `eta_minutes` from BMF connector_status as
  a time estimate — ingestion is bursty, rate changes substantially, linear extrapolation
  misleads.
type: feedback
originSessionId: e60f4993-8250-41bb-a95f-c288da448be5
permalink: claude-memory/feedback-bmf-ingestion-rate
---

# BMF connector_status rate/ETA — don't trust the extrapolation

**Rule:** When reading `mcp__capablemind__connector_status`, do not report the `rate` or `eta_minutes` fields to the steward as if they were reliable predictors of completion time.

**Why:** BMF ingestion exhibits a burst pattern — periods of slow steady throughput interleaved with rate surges. The `eta_minutes` is computed by linear extrapolation from instantaneous rate, which doesn't capture the burst behavior. Steward has observed this repeatedly across vault ingestion runs. Quoted observation (2026-04-18): *"the ETA is not a good indicator because the rate will change with the burst ingestion pattern that seems to take hold."*

**How to apply:** When reporting progress during long-running ingestion:
- Report `processed / total_estimated` and `entities_extracted` (raw counts — informative)
- Skip `rate` and `eta_minutes` unless explicitly asked — or caveat them heavily
- Frame duration in coarse terms ("several hours" / "let it run overnight") based on total size, not fine-grained ETAs
- Poll intermittently if asked; don't build plans around a specific finish time