> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://api.lensmor.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Rate limits

> Understand Lensmor API rate limits, response headers, 429 handling, exponential backoff, and safe retry strategies for production clients.

Lensmor applies rate limits to API requests to protect availability for all customers.

## Default behavior

Rate limits are evaluated by IP address and API key. When a request is allowed, the response includes rate-limit headers for the active API-key bucket when available.

```http theme={"theme":{"light":"github-light","dark":"github-dark"}}
X-RateLimit-Limit: 120
X-RateLimit-Remaining: 119
X-RateLimit-Reset: 1714521600
```

`X-RateLimit-Reset` is a Unix timestamp in seconds.

## Limit exceeded

When a request exceeds the active limit, the API returns `429 Too Many Requests`.

```json theme={"theme":{"light":"github-light","dark":"github-dark"}}
{
  "code": 429,
  "message": "Rate limit exceeded",
  "errorKey": "RATE_LIMIT_EXCEEDED",
  "traceId": "2be6d7f4-3b2d-4d11-8e2d-7a2e4c3e9a10"
}
```

The response also includes:

```http theme={"theme":{"light":"github-light","dark":"github-dark"}}
Retry-After: 32
```

Wait at least `Retry-After` seconds before retrying.

## Integration guidance

* Use pagination instead of large repeated requests.
* Back off when `X-RateLimit-Remaining` is low.
* Retry `429` responses only after `Retry-After`.
* Include the `traceId` when contacting support about rate-limit behavior.