🔧 API rate limit exceeded Github: How to fix?

GitHub’s API is a powerful tool for developers to integrate and interact with GitHub repositories, users, issues, and more. However, like many APIs, GitHub enforces rate limits to ensure fair usage and prevent abuse. If you frequently encounter the "API rate limit exceeded" error while using GitHub’s API, this article will help you understand the issue and provide practical solutions to manage and prevent it.

What Are GitHub’s API Rate Limits?

GitHub’s API enforces different rate limits depending on whether requests are authenticated or unauthenticated:

1. Authenticated Requests:

   • Limit: 5000 requests per hour per user.
   • Applies when using a personal access token (PAT), OAuth token, or GitHub App installation token.

2. Unauthenticated Requests:

   • Limit: 60 requests per hour per IP.
   • Applies when making requests without authentication.

How to Check GitHub Rate Limits

GitHub provides rate-limiting information in the response headers for every API request. Key headers include:

• X-RateLimit-Limit: Total number of allowed requests.
• X-RateLimit-Remaining: Number of requests left in the current window.
• X-RateLimit-Reset: UNIX timestamp indicating when the rate limit resets.

Example of Fetching Rate Limit Information

import requests

# Replace YOUR_TOKEN with your GitHub Personal Access Token
headers = {"Authorization": "Bearer YOUR_TOKEN"}
response = requests.get("https://api.github.com/rate_limit", headers=headers)

if response.status_code == 200:
    rate_limit_data = response.json()["rate"]
    print(f"Limit: {rate_limit_data['limit']}")
    print(f"Remaining: {rate_limit_data['remaining']}")
    print(f"Reset: {rate_limit_data['reset']}")
else:
    print("Failed to fetch rate limit info.")

Handling GitHub API Rate Limits

1. Authenticate Your Requests

For higher rate limits, always authenticate your requests using a Personal Access Token (PAT):

Example

headers = {"Authorization": "Bearer YOUR_TOKEN"}
response = requests.get("https://api.github.com/repos/octocat/Hello-World", headers=headers)
print(response.json())

2. Monitor and Respect Rate Limit Headers

Always check the X-RateLimit-Remaining and X-RateLimit-Reset headers to avoid exceeding the limit. If the remaining count is low, pause requests until the reset time.

Example

import time

headers = {"Authorization": "Bearer YOUR_TOKEN"}
response = requests.get("https://api.github.com/rate_limit", headers=headers)
rate_limit_data = response.json()["rate"]

remaining = rate_limit_data['remaining']
reset_time = rate_limit_data['reset']

if remaining == 0:
    wait_time = reset_time - int(time.time())
    print(f"Rate limit exceeded. Waiting {wait_time} seconds.")
    time.sleep(wait_time)

3. Use Conditional Requests

Reduce unnecessary requests by using conditional headers like If-None-Match with the ETag from a previous response. GitHub returns a 304 Not Modified status if the resource hasn’t changed.

Example

headers = {
    "Authorization": "Bearer YOUR_TOKEN",
    "If-None-Match": "\"etag_value\""
}
response = requests.get("https://api.github.com/repos/octocat/Hello-World", headers=headers)
if response.status_code == 304:
    print("Resource not modified. No need to process.")

4. Leverage GitHub’s GraphQL API

GraphQL allows you to fetch specific fields in a single request, reducing the number of calls needed.

Example

import requests

url = "https://api.github.com/graphql"
headers = {"Authorization": "Bearer YOUR_TOKEN"}
query = """
{
  repository(owner: \"octocat\", name: \"Hello-World\") {
    name
    owner {
      login
    }
    stargazerCount
  }
}
"""
response = requests.post(url, json={"query": query}, headers=headers)
print(response.json())

5. Retry with Backoff

If a rate limit is exceeded, implement exponential backoff to retry after waiting an appropriate amount of time.

Example

import time

headers = {"Authorization": "Bearer YOUR_TOKEN"}
url = "https://api.github.com/repos/octocat/Hello-World"

for attempt in range(5):
    response = requests.get(url, headers=headers)
    if response.status_code == 200:
        print(response.json())
        break
    elif response.status_code == 403 and "X-RateLimit-Remaining" in response.headers:
        reset_time = int(response.headers["X-RateLimit-Reset"])
        wait_time = reset_time - int(time.time())
        print(f"Rate limit exceeded. Waiting {wait_time} seconds.")
        time.sleep(wait_time)
    else:
        time.sleep(2 ** attempt)  # Exponential backoff

Best Practices for Managing GitHub Rate Limits

1. Authenticate All Requests:

   • Use tokens to access higher rate limits.

2. Optimize API Usage:

   • Fetch only the required data.
   • Use GraphQL for precise queries.

3. Implement Caching:

   • Cache responses locally or using tools like Redis to avoid redundant requests.

4. Batch API Requests:

   • Combine multiple requests into a single batch if possible.

5. Monitor Rate Limit Headers:

   • Respect the limits by checking the X-RateLimit-Remaining header.

6. Use Conditional Requests:

   • Utilize ETag to avoid fetching unchanged resources.

7. Handle Errors Gracefully:

   • Provide fallback mechanisms for when the API rate limit is exceeded.

API rate limit exceeded: To Conclude

The "API rate limit exceeded" error in GitHub’s API can disrupt workflows but is manageable with proper techniques. By authenticating requests, monitoring headers, optimizing usage, and leveraging advanced strategies like caching and GraphQL, you can significantly reduce the likelihood of hitting rate limits.

Stay proactive by implementing these strategies and ensuring your applications remain efficient and compliant with GitHub’s rate-limiting policies.