API Rate Limiting

Many of you have noticed that our API rate limiting is stifling to put it mildly. We heard you and we, yet again, changed the way we limit API use. You'll like this one we're sure...

Previously:

There's a limit of 450 requests within a 15 minute window. If you go above that you're temporarily blocked. You can make all those requests within anywhere from 1 second to 15 minutes.

Now:

TL;DR: Space out your requests so AT LEAST one second passes between each and you can make requests all day. Go even a millisecond faster and you'll hit a brick wall REALLY HARD.

There is no limit of the number of requests. You are limited to how often you can make requests. There are no hard numbers in this, its more of a throttling algorithm that will restrict aggressive apps and reward those that are well behaved. If your app spreads out requests to at most one per second you will not have any problems and can make requests 24/7. If the time between requests is less than 1 second you will be restricted and the more of these requests you make the more likely you will be blocked and proceeding amounts of allowed requests will dramatically drop.

@edgework: Is this rate limiting based on endpoint, or the entire API? Just curious where to put my rate limiter.

@edgework: Also, is this currently in effect? Even spacing out my requests, the giantbomb.com/api page seems to show me at ~200 requests an hour per endpoint, rather than an evenly paced 3600.

(I hit the api faster than 1 request/second at various points last night, when my rate limiter went haywire. So, that could explain it.)

@conmused: Not quite. Read this

http://www.comicvine.com/forums/api-developers-2334/api-rate-limiting-1746419/?page=1#js-message-15850814

@edgework: Aha! Rad.

Hi, I've been spacing my requests to exactly one second, but I was looking at my API page and there was a message of something like this.

"You have used XXX requests in the last hour for API Path '/game' ...a tad bit gluttonous don't you think? (reset in XX minutes)"

Am I going to have a problem if I query on this rate? This is just for the initial setup of a project that I'm doing, after that the requests are going to go way down.

Thanks!

@lucascunha: You shouldn't have a problem, that warning is just meant as a deterrent from too much crazy usage. If you do run into any limits those limits will reset within an hour and if you consistently run into problems feel free to PM me and we'll sort it out.