diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 70f5563..ef2bddf 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -4,6 +4,14 @@
 
 [1]: https://www.npmjs.com/package/@google/repo?activeTab=versions
 
+## [4.8.0](https://github.com/googleapis/github-repo-automation/compare/v4.7.0...v4.8.0) (2022-01-17)
+
+
+### Features
+
+* delay by default ([#568](https://github.com/googleapis/github-repo-automation/issues/568)) ([2e522e4](https://github.com/googleapis/github-repo-automation/commit/2e522e4ef4ff8b9aad6ce204b5736abe47bab0f2))
+* detailed debugging now configured with NODE_DEBUG=repo ([#567](https://github.com/googleapis/github-repo-automation/issues/567)) ([5306b21](https://github.com/googleapis/github-repo-automation/commit/5306b2155387e5d99f199762390aff0baa12ffe8))
+
 ## [4.7.0](https://github.com/googleapis/github-repo-automation/compare/v4.6.1...v4.7.0) (2022-01-14)
 
 
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 8f59607..fe6257f 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -311,5 +311,13 @@ There are settings you can configure to make this less likely:
 When running against a large number of repos, try the following as a starting point:
 
 ```bash
-repo [command] --delay=2500 --concurrency=4 --retry --title='.*some title.*'
+repo [command] --delay=1000 --concurrency=2 --retry --title='.*some title.*'
 ```
+
+If you are continuing to run into problems, run with:
+
+```
+NODE_DEBUG=repo repo [command] --delay=1000 --concurrency=2 --retry --title='.*some title.*'
+```
+
+And share the debug output in an issue, along with the command you are running.
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index c72ddd9..63e838e 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "@google/repo",
-  "version": "4.7.0",
+  "version": "4.8.0",
   "repository": "googleapis/github-repo-automation",
   "description": "A tool for automating multiple GitHub repositories.",
   "engines": {
diff --git a/src/lib/asyncItemIterator.ts b/src/lib/asyncItemIterator.ts
index c6a641b..c217cc9 100644
--- a/src/lib/asyncItemIterator.ts
+++ b/src/lib/asyncItemIterator.ts
@@ -16,6 +16,8 @@ import * as meow from 'meow';
 import {meowFlags} from '../cli';
 import Q from 'p-queue';
 import ora = require('ora');
+import {debuglog} from 'util';
+const debug = debuglog('repo');
 
 import * as configLib from './config';
 import {GitHub, GitHubRepository, PullRequest, Issue} from './github';
@@ -37,9 +39,9 @@ async function retryException<T>(
       return result;
     } catch (err) {
       if (i < retryStrategy.length) {
-        console.error(`\noperation failed: ${err.toString()}`);
+        debug(`operation failed: ${err.toString()}`);
         const delay = nextDelay(retryStrategy[i]);
-        console.info(`\nretrying in ${delay}ms`);
+        debug(`retrying in ${delay}ms`);
         await delayMs(delay);
         continue;
       }
@@ -63,7 +65,7 @@ async function retryBoolean(
     const result = await eventual();
     if (!result && i < retryStrategy.length) {
       const delay = nextDelay(retryStrategy[i]);
-      console.info(`\nretrying in ${delay}ms`);
+      debug(`retrying in ${delay}ms`);
       await delayMs(delay);
       continue;
     } else {
@@ -153,7 +155,7 @@ async function process(
     : 15;
   // Introduce a delay between requests, this may be necessary if
   // processing many repos in a row to avoid rate limits:
-  const delay: number = cli.flags.delay ? Number(cli.flags.delay) : 0;
+  const delay: number = cli.flags.delay ? Number(cli.flags.delay) : 500;
   const retry: boolean = cli.flags.retry ? Boolean(cli.flags.retry) : false;
   const config = await configLib.getConfig();
   const retryStrategy = retry
@@ -187,12 +189,12 @@ async function process(
           let localItems;
           if (processIssues) {
             localItems = await retryException<Issue[]>(async () => {
-              if (delay) delayMs(delay);
+              if (delay) await delayMs(nextDelay(delay));
               return await repo.listIssues();
             }, retryStrategy);
           } else {
             localItems = await retryException<PullRequest[]>(async () => {
-              if (delay) delayMs(delay);
+              if (delay) await delayMs(nextDelay(delay));
               return await repo.listPullRequests();
             }, retryStrategy);
           }
@@ -266,7 +268,7 @@ async function process(
           if (processIssues) {
             const opts = options as IssueIteratorOptions;
             result = await retryBoolean(async () => {
-              if (delay) await delayMs(delay);
+              if (delay) await delayMs(nextDelay(delay));
               return await opts.processMethod(
                 itemSet.repo,
                 itemSet.item as Issue,
@@ -276,7 +278,7 @@ async function process(
           } else {
             const opts = options as PRIteratorOptions;
             result = await retryBoolean(async () => {
-              if (delay) await delayMs(delay);
+              if (delay) await delayMs(nextDelay(delay));
               return await opts.processMethod(
                 itemSet.repo,
                 itemSet.item as PullRequest,
diff --git a/src/lib/github.ts b/src/lib/github.ts
index c4ed5f1..581da4c 100644
--- a/src/lib/github.ts
+++ b/src/lib/github.ts
@@ -16,14 +16,36 @@
  * @fileoverview Wraps some octokit GitHub API calls.
  */
 
-import {Gaxios} from 'gaxios';
+import {Gaxios, GaxiosPromise, GaxiosOptions} from 'gaxios';
 import {Config} from './config';
+import {debuglog} from 'util';
+const debug = debuglog('repo');
 
 export function getClient(config: Config) {
-  return new Gaxios({
+  const client = new Gaxios({
     baseURL: 'https://api.github.com',
     headers: {Authorization: `token ${config.githubToken}`},
   });
+  // Report rate limit information if NODE_DEBUG=repo set.
+  let counter = 0;
+  const request = client.request.bind(client);
+  client.request = async (opts: GaxiosOptions): GaxiosPromise => {
+    const resp = await request(opts);
+    const rateLimit = resp.headers['x-ratelimit-limit']
+      ? Number(resp.headers['x-ratelimit-limit'])
+      : 0;
+    const rateLimitRemaining = resp.headers['x-ratelimit-remaining']
+      ? Number(resp.headers['x-ratelimit-remaining'])
+      : 0;
+    const reset = resp.headers['x-ratelimit-reset'];
+    if (counter++ % 10 === 0) {
+      debug(
+        `GitHub rate limit: limit = ${rateLimit} remaining = ${rateLimitRemaining} reset epoch = ${reset}`
+      );
+    }
+    return resp;
+  };
+  return client;
 }
 
 interface SearchReposResponse {