Skip to main content
Welcome to the guide on API Rate Limiting for the Kim360 API. Rate limiting is a crucial mechanism to ensure fair usage, maintain API stability, and protect the service from abuse or excessive load. Understanding how it works will help you build resilient and efficient integrations.

​
What is Rate Limiting?

Rate limiting restricts the number of API requests a user or API key can make within a specific time window. If this limit is exceeded, subsequent requests will be temporarily blocked until the window resets.

​
How Rate Limiting Works with Kim360 API

Our API employs a common rate-limiting strategy, typically based on a fixed number of requests allowed per minute (or another time interval) for each API key.
  • Default Limits: While specific limits can vary, a common default is around 60 requests per minute per API key. Always refer to your specific account details or service agreement if different tiers or limits apply.
  • Scope: Limits are generally applied on a per-API key basis.

​
Tracking Your Usage: Rate Limit Headers

The API provides several HTTP headers in its responses to help you track your current rate limit status. You should monitor these headers in your application to proactively manage your request volume.

​
Handling Exceeded Limits: The 429 Error

If you exceed the allocated number of requests, the API will respond with an HTTP status code of 429 Too Many Requests. Example 429 Response: 
{
  "statusCode": 429,
  "message": "Rate limit exceeded. Please try again later.",
  "error": "Too Many Requests"
}
When you receive a 429 error, you should also check for the Retry-After header:

​
💡 Best Practices for Managing Rate Limits

To ensure your integration runs smoothly and avoids hitting rate limits, consider these best practices:

Implement Exponential Backoff

When you receive a 429 error, wait for the duration specified in Retry-After. For other transient errors (like 5xx), implement an exponential backoff strategy for retries (e.g., wait 1s, then 2s, then 4s, etc., with jitter).

Cache Responses

Cache frequently accessed data that doesn’t change often on your end to reduce the number of redundant API calls.

Optimize API Calls

Design your integration to make API calls efficiently. Avoid polling for changes frequently if webhooks or other event-driven mechanisms are available. Fetch only the data you need.

Understand Your Usage Patterns

Analyze your application’s API usage to identify peak times or operations that consume the most requests. This can help in planning and optimization.

​
Checking Your Current Rate Limit Status

While the primary way to monitor your limits is through the response headers, some APIs might offer a specific endpoint to check your current rate limit status. (If Kim360 API provides such an endpoint, details would be here, e.g., GET /rate-limit-status) Currently, the Kim360 API relies on the HTTP response headers for rate limit status information.

​
Requesting a Limit Increase

If your application consistently requires a higher number of requests than the default limits allow, you may be able to request an increase.
  • Contact Support: Reach out to [email protected] with details about your application, your current usage, and the reasons for needing a higher limit.
  • Provide Justification: Be prepared to explain your use case and why the standard limits are insufficient for your legitimate needs.
By adhering to these guidelines, you can effectively manage API rate limits and build robust, scalable applications with the Kim360 API.