|
| 1 | +--- |
| 2 | +kind: change |
| 3 | +title: Rate limit changes for unauthenticated requests |
| 4 | +created_at: 2012-10-14 |
| 5 | +author_name: pengwynn |
| 6 | +--- |
| 7 | + |
| 8 | +To ensure a high quality of service for all API consumers, we've reduced the |
| 9 | +default rate limit for unauthenticated requests. To enjoy the default rate |
| 10 | +limit of 5,000 requests per hour, you'll need to |
| 11 | +[authenticate](http://developer.github.com/v3/#authentication) via Basic Auth |
| 12 | +or OAuth. Unauthenticated requests will be limited to 60 per hour unless you |
| 13 | +[include your OAuth client and |
| 14 | +secret](http://developer.github.com/v3/#unauthenticated-rate-limited-requests). |
| 15 | + |
| 16 | +We'll soon require all requests to include a valid [User Agent |
| 17 | +header](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_agent). Setting a |
| 18 | +uniq value for this header helps us identify requests and get in touch with |
| 19 | +developers who are abusing the API. Most HTTP libraries, wrapper libraries, and |
| 20 | +even cURL provide a valid header for you already and allow you to change it to |
| 21 | +something unique to your application. |
| 22 | + |
| 23 | +If you have any questions or feedback, please drop us a line at |
| 24 | +[support@github.com](mailto:support@github.com?subject=API Rate limit). |