Rate Limits

Rate limit tiers

Key type	Requests per hour	Requests per day	Burst limit
Test (`sk_test_*`)	100	1,000	10/second
Live (`sk_live_*`)	10,000	Unlimited	100/second

Rate limits are applied per API key using a sliding window. When you exceed the limit, the API returns 429 Too Many Requests.

Check the rate limit headers on every response:

curl -I https://platform.caramedical.com/api/v1/patients \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer sk_live_your_key"

HTTP/2 200
X-RateLimit-Limit: 10000
X-RateLimit-Remaining: 9995
X-RateLimit-Reset: 1706003600

Cache responses — Avoid unnecessary API calls by caching data locally.
Use webhooks — Instead of polling, set up webhooks for real-time updates.
Batch operations — Use bulk endpoints (like POST /patients/bulk-import) to reduce call count.
Respect Retry-After — When rate-limited, wait the specified time before retrying.
Use test keys for development — Save your live key's rate limit for production traffic.