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The SW Combine API allows up to 600 requests per hour. The SDK tracks this quota automatically and exposes methods for monitoring it in real time. When you hit the limit, the SDK retries the request after the server-specified wait time — but for applications that make many requests in sequence, understanding your remaining quota helps you pace calls proactively rather than hitting the limit first.

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Checking your current quota

Call client.getRateLimitInfo() at any point to read the current quota state. It returns null until at least one API request has been made in the current session. 
const info = client.getRateLimitInfo();

if (info) {
  console.log(info.remaining);  // Requests left in this window
  console.log(info.limit);      // Total requests allowed (600)
  console.log(info.resetTime);  // Date when the window resets
}
The SDK reads rate limit state from the response headers of each API call, so getRateLimitInfo() always reflects the most recent response.

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Listening for quota updates

Use client.onRateLimitUpdate(callback) to register a callback that fires after every API call. This lets you react to quota changes — for example, logging a warning when you’re running low or pausing work when the limit is nearly exhausted. 
client.onRateLimitUpdate((info) => {
  console.log(`${info.remaining} of ${info.limit} requests remaining`);
  console.log(`Resets at: ${info.resetTime.toISOString()}`);

  if (info.remaining < 50) {
    console.warn('Approaching rate limit — consider slowing down requests');
  }
});
The callback receives the same { remaining, limit, resetTime } object as getRateLimitInfo().

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How the SDK handles rate limit responses

When the API returns a 429 Too Many Requests response, the SDK:
1

Reads the Retry-After header

The API includes a Retry-After header specifying how many seconds to wait before retrying.
2

Waits the specified duration

The SDK pauses for the full Retry-After duration, overriding the configured retryDelay.
3

Retries the request

The original request is retried transparently. If all retry attempts are exhausted without success, an SWCError with retryable: true is thrown.
The number of retry attempts is controlled by maxRetries in your ClientConfig (default: 3). If you expect to frequently hit rate limits, increase maxRetries or add delays between calls.

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Querying per-endpoint rate limits

The API exposes detailed per-endpoint rate limit information through a dedicated endpoint. Use client.api.rateLimits() to fetch it: 
const limits = await client.api.rateLimits();
console.log(limits);
This returns the rate limit configuration from the API itself, which can be useful for understanding which endpoints have tighter restrictions than the global 600/hour limit.

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Slowing down auto-pagination

When you paginate through large datasets with for await...of, the SDK makes one API request per page. For a dataset of 5,000 items with a page size of 50, that’s 100 requests — almost a sixth of your hourly quota in a single loop. Use the pageDelay option on any list() call to add a wait between page fetches: 
// Wait 1 second between each page fetch
for await (const ship of await client.inventory.entities.list({
  item_count: 100,
  pageDelay: 1000,
})) {
  console.log(ship.name);
}
Combine a larger item_count with a modest pageDelay to reduce total requests while keeping throughput acceptable. Fetching 100 items per page instead of 50 halves the number of requests needed.

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Rate limit reference

PropertyValue
Requests per hour600
Reset windowRolling 1-hour window
Retry behaviorAutomatic, respects Retry-After header
Error type when exhaustedSWCError with retryable: true
SDK method to check quotaclient.getRateLimitInfo()
SDK method to listen for updatesclient.onRateLimitUpdate(callback)
Per-endpoint limitsclient.api.rateLimits()

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Next steps

Pagination

Control page size and add delays between auto-pagination fetches.

Error handling

Understand how the SDK retries rate limit errors and when it gives up.

Client modes

Configure maxRetries and retryDelay at client construction time.

Quickstart

See pagination and rate limit awareness in a complete example.