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"Github rate limit"

Published at: May 13, 2025
Last Updated at: 5/13/2025, 2:53:43 PM

Understanding GitHub Rate Limits

GitHub imposes rate limits on requests made to its APIs, Git operations, and other services. These limits restrict the number of actions or requests an individual user or application can perform within a specific time frame. The primary purpose is to prevent abuse, ensure the stability and performance of the platform for all users, and manage resource consumption effectively.

Types of GitHub Rate Limits

GitHub implements various rate limits depending on the service being accessed. The most commonly encountered limits relate to API usage:

  • REST API Rate Limits: Apply to most standard API endpoints (repositories, users, issues, pull requests, etc.).
  • Search API Rate Limits: Apply specifically to search operations, which are more resource-intensive. These often have stricter limits than general API requests.
  • GraphQL API Rate Limits: Apply to requests made using the GraphQL API. GraphQL often allows fetching more data in a single request, so its limit calculation differs slightly but still restricts the overall workload.
  • Git Rate Limits: Apply to Git operations like cloning, fetching, and pushing, particularly over HTTP.

How Rate Limits Are Measured

For the core REST API, rate limits are typically measured in requests per hour. The limit varies significantly based on whether the request is authenticated or unauthenticated. Other limits, like search or secondary limits, might be measured over shorter durations or based on complexity.

Authenticated vs. Unauthenticated Limits

A fundamental distinction in GitHub rate limits is between authenticated and unauthenticated requests:

  • Unauthenticated Requests: Requests made without an API token or session. These have a very low rate limit, often around 60 requests per hour. This limit is usually associated with the originating IP address.
  • Authenticated Requests: Requests made using a personal access token, OAuth token, or GitHub App installation token. These have significantly higher limits, commonly 5,000 requests per hour for user-to-server tokens accessing REST API endpoints. Using GitHub Apps can offer even higher limits in some contexts.

Authenticated requests are the standard and recommended way to interact with GitHub's APIs for any significant usage.

Checking Current Rate Limit Status

Applications and users can check their current rate limit status for the REST API by making a GET request to /rate_limit. This endpoint returns information about the various rate limits that apply, including:

  • X-RateLimit-Limit: The maximum number of requests permitted in the current time window.
  • X-RateLimit-Remaining: The number of requests remaining in the current time window.
  • X-RateLimit-Reset: The Unix timestamp when the current time window resets and the rate limit count is refreshed.

This information is also included in the headers of every API response. Monitoring these headers (X-RateLimit-Remaining and X-RateLimit-Reset) is crucial for applications to manage their request rate effectively and avoid hitting limits.

What Happens When a Limit is Reached

When an application or user exceeds a rate limit, GitHub's API will return an error response. This typically includes:

  • A 403 Forbidden or 429 Too Many Requests HTTP status code.
  • Information in the response body indicating that the rate limit has been exceeded.
  • The X-RateLimit-Reset header indicating when the limit will reset.
  • Sometimes, a Retry-After header suggesting how long to wait before retrying.

Subsequent requests made before the reset time will continue to fail with the same error.

Strategies for Managing and Avoiding Rate Limits

Effectively managing GitHub rate limits is essential for building stable and reliable applications. Practical strategies include:

  • Authenticate All Requests: Always use an API token or GitHub App installation for requests. This increases the available limit significantly. Avoid using unauthenticated requests except for trivial or infrequent access.
  • Check Rate Limit Headers: Monitor the X-RateLimit-Remaining and X-RateLimit-Reset headers in every API response. Implement logic to pause requests if the remaining limit is low and wait until the reset time.
  • Implement Conditional Requests: Use the If-None-Match (with ETag) or If-Modified-Since headers when fetching resources that might not have changed. If the resource hasn't been modified, the API returns a 304 Not Modified status without counting against the rate limit (or counting significantly less).
  • Reduce Request Frequency: Cache API responses locally where possible. Avoid polling for changes too frequently. Use webhooks instead of polling if the goal is to react to events.
  • Batch or Combine Requests: When possible, design workflows to fetch related data in fewer, more comprehensive requests. The GraphQL API can be particularly useful for fetching multiple data points in a single query.
  • Respect Retry-After and Reset Times: If a rate limit error is received, wait the duration specified by the Retry-After header or until the time indicated by X-RateLimit-Reset before making further requests. Implement an exponential backoff strategy for retries.
  • Optimize Search Queries: Ensure search queries are as specific as possible to reduce the workload on the search infrastructure and minimize the number of results fetched if only a few are needed.

By implementing these strategies, applications and scripts can operate efficiently within GitHub's rate limits, ensuring consistent access to the platform's services.


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