Rate Limits

Rate limit policy

The SkyLight Chat API enforces a rate limit of 120 requests per minute per API key.

Rate limit headers

Every response includes headers telling you your current rate limit status:

X-RateLimit-Limit: 120
X-RateLimit-Remaining: 87
X-RateLimit-Reset: 1741212345

Handling 429 responses

When you exceed the rate limit, the API returns 429 Too Many Requests:

{
  "success": false,
  "message": "Too many requests. Please slow down.",
  "retry_after": 34
}

The retry_after value is the number of seconds to wait before retrying.

Retry strategy

Implement exponential backoff with jitter for production systems:

async function requestWithRetry(fn, maxRetries = 3) {
  for (let attempt = 0; attempt < maxRetries; attempt++) {
    try {
      return await fn()
    } catch (err) {
      if (err.status === 429 && attempt < maxRetries - 1) {
        const delay = Math.pow(2, attempt) * 1000 + Math.random() * 500
        await new Promise(resolve => setTimeout(resolve, delay))
        continue
      }
      throw err
    }
  }
}

Best practices

• Batch operations where possible — fetch multiple contacts in one paginated request rather than many individual calls
• Cache responses that don't change frequently (e.g., account subscription details, available booking types)
• Use webhooks instead of polling for real-time updates — a webhook costs 0 requests per event
• Monitor X-RateLimit-Remaining and back off proactively before hitting the limit