How to change the API rate limits#

The API limits how often one caller may ask, so that a crawler or a runaway script cannot overload a small server. You change a limit when the figures a portal starts with are too tight for its users or too loose for its server.

Before you start#

You need to edit the portal’s settings module and restart the portal. The settings are described in Settings, which also gives the values a portal starts with.

Steps#

Open the settings module that calls fairdm.setup().
After the fairdm.setup() call, change the entries you want in REST_FRAMEWORK["DEFAULT_THROTTLE_RATES"].
```
import fairdm

fairdm.setup()

REST_FRAMEWORK["DEFAULT_THROTTLE_RATES"]["user_day"] = "100000/day"
REST_FRAMEWORK["DEFAULT_THROTTLE_RATES"]["anon_burst"] = "60/minute"
```
A rate is a number, a slash and a period: second, minute, hour or day. The API uses four names: anon_burst, anon_day, user_burst and user_day. The search boxes use four of their own: autocomplete_anon_burst, autocomplete_anon_day, autocomplete_user_burst and autocomplete_user_day.

To remove a limit, set its rate to None.

REST_FRAMEWORK["DEFAULT_THROTTLE_RATES"]["anon_day"] = None

Restart the portal.

The result#

The API documentation page at /api/v1/docs/ lists the rates the portal runs with, one line for each name in the dictionary, so it matches the settings. A caller over a limit is answered 429 Too Many Requests with a Retry-After header.

Change entries of the dictionary rather than replacing it. If you replace the whole dictionary, include all four API names, or API requests fail with a server error. A search-box name you leave out keeps its starting value, so a replaced dictionary does not break the search boxes.

The limits count callers by network address, so they protect a portal only once the portal knows how many proxies stand in front of it. See How to count API callers behind a proxy. To change how many records a page holds, see PAGE_SIZE and FAIRDM_API_MAX_PAGE_SIZE in Settings. Why there are two limits for each caller is explained in How API callers are limited.

The general rule for overriding a FairDM setting is in How to override a FairDM setting.