# Rate Limits

The number of requests that can be made through the API is currently 65 per minute.  We provide the API request rate information in the response headers for each request.

{% hint style="warning" %}
The `HTTP 429 Too Many Requests` indicates you have exceeded your allowed requests.
{% endhint %}

####  Rate Limit Headers

| Header                      | Description                                                                  |
| --------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `OCTO-RateLimit-Limit`      | The maximum allowed requests/min.                                            |
| `OCTO-RateLimit-Remaining`  | The number of requests that remain before you hit the request limit.         |
| `OCTO-RateLimit-RetryAfter` | This represents the number of seconds until another request will be allowed. |

{% hint style="info" %}
Any of the booking API calls will not accrue against your API usage.
{% endhint %}

#### Example 

```javascript
OCTO-RateLimit-Limit: 65
OCTO-RateLimit-Remaining: 0
OCTO-RateLimit-RetryAfter:  10
```

### Avoiding API Throttling

Programming practices such as continuous polling for inventory or regular inventory scanning are more likely to lead to throttling and will degrade overall performance.  Concurrent API calls may lead to a high number of requests per minute, triggering a throttling event.

**The following are best practices for avoiding throttling:**

* Reduce the degree of parallelism  - common when tracking inventory.
* Reduce the frequency of calls - again common with inventory calls.
* Avoid immediate retries - all requests accrue against your usage limits. 

### I'm being throttled, now what?

We will reply with a `HTTP 429`.  When you implement error handling use the error code `429` to detect throttling.  Response headers will include `OCTO-RateLimit-RetryAfter`.  Backing off requests using `RetryAfter` is the fastest way to recover from throttling.

To use the RetryAfter delay, do the following:

1. Wait for the number of seconds specified in the `OCTO-RateLimit-RetryAfter` header.
2. Retry the request.
3. If the request fails again with a `429` error code, you are still being throttled.  Retry with Exponential backoff, use the recommended Retry-After delay and retry the request until it succeeds.


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