diff --git a/packages/cubejs-api-gateway/src/gateway.ts b/packages/cubejs-api-gateway/src/gateway.ts
index 7cbaa25efb94e..1d1517f19ab4d 100644
--- a/packages/cubejs-api-gateway/src/gateway.ts
+++ b/packages/cubejs-api-gateway/src/gateway.ts
@@ -54,6 +54,7 @@ import {
 import {
   CheckAuthMiddlewareFn,
   RequestLoggerMiddlewareFn,
+  ContextRejectionMiddlewareFn,
 } from './interfaces';
 import { getRequestIdFromRequest, requestParser } from './requestParser';
 import { UserError } from './UserError';
@@ -126,6 +127,8 @@ class ApiGateway {
   protected readonly requestLoggerMiddleware: RequestLoggerMiddlewareFn;
 
   protected readonly securityContextExtractor: SecurityContextExtractorFn;
+  
+  protected readonly contextRejectionMiddleware: ContextRejectionMiddlewareFn;
 
   protected readonly releaseListeners: (() => any)[] = [];
 
@@ -158,12 +161,14 @@ class ApiGateway {
       : this.checkAuth;
     this.securityContextExtractor = this.createSecurityContextExtractor(options.jwt);
     this.requestLoggerMiddleware = options.requestLoggerMiddleware || this.requestLogger;
+    this.contextRejectionMiddleware = options.contextRejectionMiddleware || (async (req, res, next) => { next(); });
   }
 
   public initApp(app: ExpressApplication) {
     const userMiddlewares: RequestHandler[] = [
       this.checkAuthMiddleware,
       this.requestContextMiddleware,
+      this.contextRejectionMiddleware,
       this.logNetworkUsage,
       this.requestLoggerMiddleware
     ];
@@ -279,6 +284,7 @@ class ApiGateway {
       const systemMiddlewares: RequestHandler[] = [
         this.checkAuthSystemMiddleware,
         this.requestContextMiddleware,
+        this.contextRejectionMiddleware,
         this.requestLoggerMiddleware
       ];
 
diff --git a/packages/cubejs-api-gateway/src/interfaces.ts b/packages/cubejs-api-gateway/src/interfaces.ts
index 8214963d49c07..ca31e71df5a52 100644
--- a/packages/cubejs-api-gateway/src/interfaces.ts
+++ b/packages/cubejs-api-gateway/src/interfaces.ts
@@ -75,6 +75,16 @@ export type CheckAuthMiddlewareFn =
    next: ExpressNextFunction,
  ) => void;
 
+/**
+ * Context rejection middleware.
+ */
+export type ContextRejectionMiddlewareFn =
+ (
+   req: Request,
+   res: ExpressResponse,
+   next: ExpressNextFunction,
+ ) => void;
+
 /**
  * Logger middleware.
  * @deprecated
diff --git a/packages/cubejs-api-gateway/src/types/gateway.ts b/packages/cubejs-api-gateway/src/types/gateway.ts
index bc399cd05f683..256c68c93ac88 100644
--- a/packages/cubejs-api-gateway/src/types/gateway.ts
+++ b/packages/cubejs-api-gateway/src/types/gateway.ts
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ import {
 import {
   CheckAuthMiddlewareFn,
   RequestLoggerMiddlewareFn,
+  ContextRejectionMiddlewareFn,
 } from '../interfaces';
 
 type UserBackgroundContext = {
@@ -59,6 +60,7 @@ interface ApiGatewayOptions {
   enforceSecurityChecks?: boolean;
   playgroundAuthSecret?: string;
   serverCoreVersion?: string;
+  contextRejectionMiddleware?: ContextRejectionMiddlewareFn;
   checkAuth?: CheckAuthFn;
   /**
    * @deprecated Use checkAuth property instead.
diff --git a/packages/cubejs-server-core/package.json b/packages/cubejs-server-core/package.json
index 15182b5fd5647..c96e04c329841 100644
--- a/packages/cubejs-server-core/package.json
+++ b/packages/cubejs-server-core/package.json
@@ -48,6 +48,7 @@
     "lru-cache": "^5.1.1",
     "moment": "^2.29.1",
     "node-fetch": "^2.6.0",
+    "p-limit": "^4.0.0",
     "promise-timeout": "^1.3.0",
     "ramda": "^0.27.0",
     "semver": "^6.3.0",
diff --git a/packages/cubejs-server-core/src/core/OptsHandler.ts b/packages/cubejs-server-core/src/core/OptsHandler.ts
index 9bdb8f4e661eb..bc8e39db49069 100644
--- a/packages/cubejs-server-core/src/core/OptsHandler.ts
+++ b/packages/cubejs-server-core/src/core/OptsHandler.ts
@@ -466,6 +466,8 @@ export class OptsHandler {
       dashboardAppPort: 3000,
       scheduledRefreshConcurrency:
         parseInt(process.env.CUBEJS_SCHEDULED_REFRESH_CONCURRENCY, 10),
+      scheduledRefreshBatchSize:
+        parseInt(process.env.CUBEJS_SCHEDULED_REFRESH_BATCH_SIZE, 10) || 1,
       preAggregationsSchema:
         getEnv('preAggregationsSchema') ||
         (this.isDevMode()
diff --git a/packages/cubejs-server-core/src/core/optionsValidate.ts b/packages/cubejs-server-core/src/core/optionsValidate.ts
index 57f9fa88031ca..cd1561f4f6944 100644
--- a/packages/cubejs-server-core/src/core/optionsValidate.ts
+++ b/packages/cubejs-server-core/src/core/optionsValidate.ts
@@ -84,6 +84,7 @@ const schemaOptions = Joi.object().keys({
   scheduledRefreshTimeZones: Joi.array().items(Joi.string()),
   scheduledRefreshContexts: Joi.func(),
   scheduledRefreshConcurrency: Joi.number().min(1).integer(),
+  scheduledRefreshBatchSize: Joi.number().min(1).integer(),
   // Compiler cache
   compilerCacheSize: Joi.number().min(0).integer(),
   updateCompilerCacheKeepAlive: Joi.boolean(),
diff --git a/packages/cubejs-server-core/src/core/server.ts b/packages/cubejs-server-core/src/core/server.ts
index e8d199e7bd3ea..2ed0caff46303 100644
--- a/packages/cubejs-server-core/src/core/server.ts
+++ b/packages/cubejs-server-core/src/core/server.ts
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ import crypto from 'crypto';
 import fs from 'fs-extra';
 import LRUCache from 'lru-cache';
 import isDocker from 'is-docker';
+import pLimit from 'p-limit';
 
 import { ApiGateway, UserBackgroundContext } from '@cubejs-backend/api-gateway';
 import {
@@ -11,7 +12,7 @@ import {
   getEnv, assertDataSource, getRealType, internalExceptions, track,
 } from '@cubejs-backend/shared';
 
-import type { Application as ExpressApplication } from 'express';
+import type { Application as ExpressApplication, NextFunction } from 'express';
 
 import { BaseDriver, DriverFactoryByDataSource } from '@cubejs-backend/query-orchestrator';
 import { FileRepository, SchemaFileRepository } from './FileRepository';
@@ -59,6 +60,22 @@ function wrapToFnIfNeeded<T, R>(possibleFn: T | ((a: R) => T)): (a: R) => T {
   return () => possibleFn;
 }
 
+export type ContextAcceptanceResult = {
+  accepted: boolean;
+  rejectHeaders?: { [key: string]: string };
+  rejectStatusCode?: number;
+};
+
+export interface ContextAcceptor {
+  shouldAccept(context: RequestContext): ContextAcceptanceResult;
+}
+
+class AcceptAllAcceptor {
+  public shouldAccept(_context: RequestContext): ContextAcceptanceResult {
+    return { accepted: true };
+  }
+}
+
 export class CubejsServerCore {
   /**
    * Returns core version based on package.json.
@@ -134,6 +151,8 @@ export class CubejsServerCore {
 
   protected apiGatewayInstance: ApiGateway | null = null;
 
+  protected contextAcceptor: ContextAcceptor;
+
   public readonly event: (name: string, props?: object) => Promise<void>;
 
   public projectFingerprint: string | null = null;
@@ -141,7 +160,7 @@ export class CubejsServerCore {
   public anonymousId: string | null = null;
 
   public coreServerVersion: string | null = null;
-
+  
   /**
    * Class constructor.
    */
@@ -179,6 +198,8 @@ export class CubejsServerCore {
       this.standalone = false;
     }
 
+    this.contextAcceptor = new AcceptAllAcceptor();
+
     if (this.options.contextToDataSourceId) {
       throw new Error('contextToDataSourceId has been deprecated and removed. Use contextToOrchestratorId instead.');
     }
@@ -419,7 +440,7 @@ export class CubejsServerCore {
       return this.apiGatewayInstance;
     }
 
-    return this.apiGatewayInstance = new ApiGateway(
+    return (this.apiGatewayInstance = new ApiGateway(
       this.options.apiSecret,
       this.getCompilerApi.bind(this),
       this.getOrchestratorApi.bind(this),
@@ -429,17 +450,33 @@ export class CubejsServerCore {
         dataSourceStorage: this.orchestratorStorage,
         basePath: this.options.basePath,
         checkAuthMiddleware: this.options.checkAuthMiddleware,
+        contextRejectionMiddleware: this.contextRejectionMiddleware.bind(this),
         checkAuth: this.options.checkAuth,
-        queryRewrite: this.options.queryRewrite || this.options.queryTransformer,
+        queryRewrite:
+          this.options.queryRewrite || this.options.queryTransformer,
         extendContext: this.options.extendContext,
-        playgroundAuthSecret: getEnv('playgroundAuthSecret'),
+        playgroundAuthSecret: getEnv("playgroundAuthSecret"),
         jwt: this.options.jwt,
         refreshScheduler: () => new RefreshScheduler(this),
         scheduledRefreshContexts: this.options.scheduledRefreshContexts,
         scheduledRefreshTimeZones: this.options.scheduledRefreshTimeZones,
-        serverCoreVersion: this.coreServerVersion
+        serverCoreVersion: this.coreServerVersion,
       }
-    );
+    ));
+  }
+
+  protected async contextRejectionMiddleware(req, res, next) {
+    if (!this.standalone) {
+      const result = this.contextAcceptor.shouldAccept(req.context);
+      if (!result.accepted) {
+        res.writeHead(result.rejectStatusCode!, result.rejectHeaders!);
+        res.send();
+        return;
+      }
+    }
+    if (next) {
+      next();
+    }
   }
 
   public getCompilerApi(context: RequestContext) {
@@ -648,22 +685,37 @@ export class CubejsServerCore {
    * @internal Please dont use this method directly, use refreshTimer
    */
   public handleScheduledRefreshInterval = async (options) => {
-    const contexts = await this.options.scheduledRefreshContexts();
+    const contexts = (await this.options.scheduledRefreshContexts()).filter(
+      (context) => context === null || this.contextAcceptor.shouldAccept(
+        this.migrateBackgroundContext(context)!
+      ).accepted
+    );
+    console.log(`Selected ${contexts.length} contexts for refresh`);
     if (contexts.length < 1) {
       this.logger('Refresh Scheduler Error', {
         error: 'At least one context should be returned by scheduledRefreshContexts'
       });
     }
 
-    return Promise.all(contexts.map(async context => {
-      const queryingOptions: any = { ...options, concurrency: this.options.scheduledRefreshConcurrency };
+    const batchLimit = pLimit(this.options.scheduledRefreshBatchSize);
+    console.log(`New batch with a size of ${this.options.scheduledRefreshBatchSize}`);
+    return Promise.all(
+      contexts
+        .map((context) => async () => {
+          const queryingOptions: any = {
+            ...options,
+            concurrency: this.options.scheduledRefreshConcurrency,
+          };
 
-      if (this.options.scheduledRefreshTimeZones) {
-        queryingOptions.timezones = this.options.scheduledRefreshTimeZones;
-      }
+          if (this.options.scheduledRefreshTimeZones) {
+            queryingOptions.timezones = this.options.scheduledRefreshTimeZones;
+          }
 
-      return this.runScheduledRefresh(context, queryingOptions);
-    }));
+          return this.runScheduledRefresh(context, queryingOptions);
+        })
+        // Limit the number of refresh contexts we process per iteration
+        .map(batchLimit)
+    );
   };
 
   protected getRefreshScheduler() {
diff --git a/packages/cubejs-server-core/src/core/types.ts b/packages/cubejs-server-core/src/core/types.ts
index e7cfb0394bec0..5af0f27f2dd82 100644
--- a/packages/cubejs-server-core/src/core/types.ts
+++ b/packages/cubejs-server-core/src/core/types.ts
@@ -187,6 +187,7 @@ export interface CreateOptions {
   scheduledRefreshTimeZones?: string[];
   scheduledRefreshContexts?: () => Promise<UserBackgroundContext[]>;
   scheduledRefreshConcurrency?: number;
+  scheduledRefreshBatchSize?: number;
   compilerCacheSize?: number;
   maxCompilerCacheKeepAlive?: number;
   updateCompilerCacheKeepAlive?: boolean;
diff --git a/packages/cubejs-server/src/server.ts b/packages/cubejs-server/src/server.ts
index cb40d3b6fb5a7..0193ada59cf2d 100644
--- a/packages/cubejs-server/src/server.ts
+++ b/packages/cubejs-server/src/server.ts
@@ -49,6 +49,8 @@ type RequireOne<T, K extends keyof T> = {
 };
 
 export class CubejsServer {
+  protected ServerCoreClass: typeof CubeCore = CubeCore;
+
   protected readonly core: CubejsServerCore;
 
   protected readonly config: RequireOne<CreateOptions, 'webSockets' | 'http' | 'sqlPort' | 'pgSqlPort'>;
@@ -77,7 +79,7 @@ export class CubejsServer {
       },
     };
 
-    this.core = CubeCore.create(config, systemOptions);
+    this.core = this.ServerCoreClass.create(config, systemOptions);
     this.server = null;
   }
 
diff --git a/packages/cubejs-server/src/server/container.ts b/packages/cubejs-server/src/server/container.ts
index 9f39905018cdb..8503e47c79269 100644
--- a/packages/cubejs-server/src/server/container.ts
+++ b/packages/cubejs-server/src/server/container.ts
@@ -34,6 +34,8 @@ function safetyParseSemver(version: string | null) {
 export class ServerContainer {
   protected isCubeConfigEmpty: boolean = true;
 
+  protected ServerClass: typeof CubejsServer = CubejsServer;
+
   public constructor(
     protected readonly configuration: { debug: boolean }
   ) {
@@ -231,7 +233,7 @@ export class ServerContainer {
       configuration.scheduledRefreshTimer = false;
     }
 
-    const server = new CubejsServer(configuration, {
+    const server = new this.ServerClass(configuration, {
       isCubeConfigEmpty
     });
 
diff --git a/yarn.lock b/yarn.lock
index 1ac3534aae6e1..5dc73f55f69d5 100644
--- a/yarn.lock
+++ b/yarn.lock
@@ -20758,6 +20758,13 @@ p-limit@^3.0.1, p-limit@^3.0.2, p-limit@^3.1.0:
   dependencies:
     yocto-queue "^0.1.0"
 
+p-limit@^4.0.0:
+  version "4.0.0"
+  resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/p-limit/-/p-limit-4.0.0.tgz#914af6544ed32bfa54670b061cafcbd04984b644"
+  integrity sha512-5b0R4txpzjPWVw/cXXUResoD4hb6U/x9BH08L7nw+GN1sezDzPdxeRvpc9c433fZhBan/wusjbCsqwqm4EIBIQ==
+  dependencies:
+    yocto-queue "^1.0.0"
+
 p-locate@^2.0.0:
   version "2.0.0"
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/p-locate/-/p-locate-2.0.0.tgz#20a0103b222a70c8fd39cc2e580680f3dde5ec43"
@@ -28810,6 +28817,11 @@ yocto-queue@^0.1.0:
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/yocto-queue/-/yocto-queue-0.1.0.tgz#0294eb3dee05028d31ee1a5fa2c556a6aaf10a1b"
   integrity sha512-rVksvsnNCdJ/ohGc6xgPwyN8eheCxsiLM8mxuE/t/mOVqJewPuO1miLpTHQiRgTKCLexL4MeAFVagts7HmNZ2Q==
 
+yocto-queue@^1.0.0:
+  version "1.0.0"
+  resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/yocto-queue/-/yocto-queue-1.0.0.tgz#7f816433fb2cbc511ec8bf7d263c3b58a1a3c251"
+  integrity sha512-9bnSc/HEW2uRy67wc+T8UwauLuPJVn28jb+GtJY16iiKWyvmYJRXVT4UamsAEGQfPohgr2q4Tq0sQbQlxTfi1g==
+
 yorkie@^2.0.0:
   version "2.0.0"
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/yorkie/-/yorkie-2.0.0.tgz#92411912d435214e12c51c2ae1093e54b6bb83d9"