diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index 09b47157..edec8aa0 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -563,6 +563,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "eyre",
  "futures",
  "futures-concurrency",
+ "rand",
  "serde",
  "serde_yaml",
  "time",
diff --git a/api/src/config.rs b/api/src/config.rs
index 48d92e92..394dea8a 100644
--- a/api/src/config.rs
+++ b/api/src/config.rs
@@ -42,6 +42,14 @@ impl std::fmt::Display for DataId {
     }
 }
 
+impl std::ops::Deref for DataId {
+    type Target = String;
+
+    fn deref(&self) -> &Self::Target {
+        &self.0
+    }
+}
+
 #[derive(Debug, Clone, PartialEq, Eq)]
 pub struct InputMapping {
     pub source: NodeId,
diff --git a/coordinator/Cargo.toml b/coordinator/Cargo.toml
index d453735e..42209323 100644
--- a/coordinator/Cargo.toml
+++ b/coordinator/Cargo.toml
@@ -19,3 +19,4 @@ clap = { version = "3.1.8", features = ["derive"] }
 uuid = "0.8.2"
 time = "0.3.9"
 futures-concurrency = "2.0.3"
+rand = "0.8.5"
diff --git a/coordinator/examples/example_sink_logger.rs b/coordinator/examples/example_sink_logger.rs
index 464b8072..30a00311 100644
--- a/coordinator/examples/example_sink_logger.rs
+++ b/coordinator/examples/example_sink_logger.rs
@@ -9,6 +9,8 @@ async fn main() -> eyre::Result<()> {
 
     let mut inputs = operator.inputs().await?;
 
+    let mut last_timestamp = None;
+
     loop {
         let timeout = Duration::from_secs(2);
         let input = match tokio::time::timeout(timeout, inputs.next()).await {
@@ -17,7 +19,25 @@ async fn main() -> eyre::Result<()> {
             Err(_) => bail!("timeout while waiting for input"),
         };
 
-        println!("{}: {}", input.id, String::from_utf8_lossy(&input.data))
+        match input.id.as_str() {
+            "time" => {
+                // only record it, but don't print anything
+                last_timestamp = Some(String::from_utf8_lossy(&input.data).into_owned());
+            }
+            "random" => {
+                let number = match input.data.try_into() {
+                    Ok(bytes) => u64::from_le_bytes(bytes),
+                    Err(_) => {
+                        eprintln!("Malformed `random` message");
+                        continue;
+                    }
+                };
+                if let Some(timestamp) = &last_timestamp {
+                    println!("random at {}: {}", timestamp, number);
+                }
+            }
+            other => eprintln!("Ignoring unexpected input `{other}`"),
+        }
     }
 
     Ok(())
diff --git a/coordinator/examples/example_source_timer.rs b/coordinator/examples/example_source_timer.rs
index ba5b30ad..bcad8b9c 100644
--- a/coordinator/examples/example_source_timer.rs
+++ b/coordinator/examples/example_source_timer.rs
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ async fn main() -> eyre::Result<()> {
     let mut interval = tokio::time::interval(Duration::from_millis(20));
 
     let time_output = DataId::from("time".to_owned());
-    for _ in 0..100 {
+    for _ in 0..1000 {
         interval.tick().await;
         let now = OffsetDateTime::now_utc().to_string();
         operator.send_output(&time_output, now.as_bytes()).await?;
diff --git a/coordinator/examples/mini-dataflow.yml b/coordinator/examples/mini-dataflow.yml
index 13b758c5..089cc7c5 100644
--- a/coordinator/examples/mini-dataflow.yml
+++ b/coordinator/examples/mini-dataflow.yml
@@ -7,7 +7,22 @@ operators:
       - time
     run: ../target/debug/examples/example_source_timer
 
+  - id: rate-limited-timer
+    run: ../target/debug/examples/rate_limit --seconds 0.5
+    inputs:
+      data: timer/time
+    outputs:
+      - rate_limited
+
+  - id: random
+    run: ../target/debug/examples/random_number
+    inputs:
+      timestamp: rate-limited-timer/rate_limited
+    outputs:
+      - number
+
   - id: logger
     run: ../target/debug/examples/example_sink_logger
     inputs:
-      data: timer/time
+      random: random/number
+      time: timer/time
diff --git a/coordinator/examples/random_number.rs b/coordinator/examples/random_number.rs
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..176c123c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/coordinator/examples/random_number.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,32 @@
+use dora_api::{self, config::DataId, DoraOperator};
+use eyre::bail;
+use futures::StreamExt;
+use std::time::Duration;
+
+#[tokio::main]
+async fn main() -> eyre::Result<()> {
+    let output = DataId::from("number".to_owned());
+
+    let operator = DoraOperator::init_from_args().await?;
+
+    let mut inputs = operator.inputs().await?;
+
+    loop {
+        let timeout = Duration::from_secs(3);
+        let input = match tokio::time::timeout(timeout, inputs.next()).await {
+            Ok(Some(input)) => input,
+            Ok(None) => break,
+            Err(_) => bail!("timeout while waiting for input"),
+        };
+
+        match input.id.as_str() {
+            "timestamp" => {
+                let random: u64 = rand::random();
+                operator.send_output(&output, &random.to_le_bytes()).await?;
+            }
+            other => eprintln!("Ignoring unexpected input `{other}`"),
+        }
+    }
+
+    Ok(())
+}
diff --git a/coordinator/examples/rate_limit.rs b/coordinator/examples/rate_limit.rs
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..09e3c5db
--- /dev/null
+++ b/coordinator/examples/rate_limit.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,50 @@
+use clap::StructOpt;
+use dora_api::{self, config::DataId, DoraOperator};
+use eyre::bail;
+use futures::StreamExt;
+use std::time::{Duration, Instant};
+
+#[derive(Debug, Clone, clap::Parser)]
+#[clap(about = "Limit the rate of incoming data")]
+struct Args {
+    /// Minimal interval between two subsequent.
+    ///
+    /// Intermediate messages are ignored.
+    #[clap(long)]
+    seconds: f32,
+}
+
+#[tokio::main]
+async fn main() -> eyre::Result<()> {
+    let args = Args::parse();
+    let min_interval = Duration::from_secs_f32(args.seconds);
+    let output = DataId::from("rate_limited".to_owned());
+
+    let operator = DoraOperator::init_from_args().await?;
+
+    let mut inputs = operator.inputs().await?;
+
+    let mut last_message = Instant::now();
+
+    loop {
+        let timeout = Duration::from_secs(3);
+        let input = match tokio::time::timeout(timeout, inputs.next()).await {
+            Ok(Some(input)) => input,
+            Ok(None) => break,
+            Err(_) => bail!("timeout while waiting for input"),
+        };
+
+        match input.id.as_str() {
+            "data" => {
+                let elapsed = last_message.elapsed();
+                if elapsed > min_interval {
+                    last_message += elapsed;
+                    operator.send_output(&output, &input.data).await?;
+                }
+            }
+            other => eprintln!("Ignoring unexpected input `{other}`"),
+        }
+    }
+
+    Ok(())
+}