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How Rate Limits Work

  • Requests Per Minute (RPM) - Each service has its own rate limit
  • Per-Organization - Limits apply to your entire organization, not individual API keys
  • Tier-Based - Your tier determines your limits (see below)
  • Automatic Upgrades - Tiers increase automatically based on spend and account age

Rate Limit Headers

Every API response includes rate limit information:

Tier System

Your tier is determined by lifetime spend and account age:

Rate Limits by Service

All values are requests per minute (RPM)

Rate Limit Errors

When you exceed your rate limit, you’ll receive a 429 Too Many Requests response:

Handling Rate Limits

All our SDKs (TypeScript, Python, Go) and the CLI automatically handle rate limits with exponential backoff retries. See the SDKs page for details.

Prepaid Credits

Case.dev uses a prepaid credit system. You must have a positive credit balance to make API calls.

Credit Balance

  • Add Credits - Purchase credits from the billing dashboard
  • Auto Top-Up - Configure automatic top-up when balance drops below a threshold
  • Balance Check - Every API call checks your balance (cached, sub-millisecond)

Insufficient Balance

When your credit balance is zero, you’ll receive a 402 Payment Required response:

Auto Top-Up

Enable automatic credit purchases when your balance drops low:
  1. Go to Billing → Prepaid Credits
  2. Toggle Auto Top-Up on
  3. Set your threshold (e.g., $10)
  4. Set your top-up amount (e.g., $50)
When your balance drops below 10,wellautomaticallychargeyourcardfor10, we'll automatically charge your card for 50.

Best Practices

1. Implement Retries with Backoff

Typescript

2. Monitor Your Usage

Check rate limit headers on every response to monitor your usage:
Typescript

3. Use Batch Operations

When processing many items, use batch endpoints where available to reduce request count.

4. Cache Results

Cache API responses when appropriate to reduce duplicate requests.

Increasing Your Limits

Automatic Tier Upgrades

Your tier upgrades automatically as you:
  • Add more credits
  • Maintain account history

Enterprise Plans

Need higher limits? Contact us for:
  • Custom rate limits (100K+ RPM)
  • Dedicated infrastructure
  • SLA guarantees
  • Priority support

FAQ

How are rate limits counted?

Rate limits are counted per organization, per service. A request to /llm/v1/chat/completions counts against your LLM limit, while /ocr/v1/process counts against OCR.

Do rate limits apply to webhooks?

No, incoming webhooks to /billing/stripe/webhook and similar endpoints are not rate limited.

What happens if I hit a rate limit?

You’ll receive a 429 response with retry information. Our SDKs handle this automatically with exponential backoff.

Can I see my current tier?

Yes, check the x-ratelimit-tier header on any API response, or visit the billing dashboard.

How quickly do tier upgrades take effect?

Tier upgrades are calculated in real-time. As soon as your lifetime spend crosses a threshold, your new limits apply.

Next Steps

Services Catalog

Explore all available services

Billing Dashboard

Manage your credits and view usage

Cookbooks

See real-world integration examples