Rate Limits

The Licentric API enforces rate limits to ensure fair usage and protect against abuse. Limits vary by endpoint tier.

Rate Limit Tiers

Tier	Endpoints	Limit	Scope
VALIDATION	POST /licenses/validate-key	60 req/min	Per IP address
ACTIVATION	POST /machines	10 req/min	Per IP address
MANAGEMENT	All other API endpoints	120 req/min	Per API key
PUBLIC	Public marketing pages	300 req/min	Per IP address

Every API response includes rate limit headers so your application can track usage proactively.

Header	Description
X-RateLimit-Limit	Maximum number of requests allowed in the current window
X-RateLimit-Remaining	Number of requests remaining in the current window
X-RateLimit-Reset	Unix timestamp (seconds) when the current window resets
Retry-After	Seconds to wait before retrying (only present on 429 responses)

Response Headers

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
X-RateLimit-Limit: 120
X-RateLimit-Remaining: 117
X-RateLimit-Reset: 1736942400

When a rate limit is exceeded, the API returns HTTP 429 with a Retry-After header.

429Rate limit exceeded

json

{
  "error": "Rate limit exceeded. Retry after 42 seconds.",
  "code": "RATE_LIMITED",
  "status": 429
}

Handling Rate Limits

Implement exponential backoff with jitter in your client. Check the Retry-After header for the exact wait time before retrying.