specification: API Commons Rate Limits
specificationVersion: '0.1'
schema: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/interface-research/main/schema/api-commons.yml#/$defs/RateLimits
provider: Apple Keynote
providerId: apple-keynote
created: '2026-05-04'
# Provenance stamped 2026-08-11: this artifact was written by the API Evangelist
# bulk sweep dated 2026-05-04, not harvested from the provider. See roadmap#35.
method: generated
modified: '2026-05-05'
reconciled: false
tags:
  - Rate Limiting
  - Apple
  - iCloud
  - Automation
description: Apple does not publish rate limits for Keynote's local automation surfaces (AppleScript,
  JavaScript for Automation, Shortcuts) or for the internal iCloud Keynote web endpoints. Local automation
  is bounded only by host machine performance and the application's command processing. Cloud sync uses
  iCloud Drive and is subject to whatever fairness throttling Apple's iCloud infrastructure applies, but
  these are not documented as numeric limits.
notes: No public numeric rate limits exist; Keynote APIs are largely on-device or internal.
sources:
  - https://developer.apple.com/library/archive/documentation/AppleApplications/Conceptual/KeynoteScriptingGuide/
  - https://www.icloud.com/keynote
responseCodes:
  throttled: 429
  serviceUnavailable: 503
limits:
  - name: AppleScript / JXA command rate
    scope: process
    metric: varies
    limit: bounded by host
    notes: No application-layer rate limit; bounded by Apple Events queue and Keynote command processing.
  - name: Shortcuts action invocations
    scope: device
    metric: varies
    limit: bounded by Shortcuts runtime
  - name: iCloud Keynote web endpoints
    scope: account
    metric: varies
    limit: not publicly documented
    notes: Internal iCloud web endpoints for icloud.com/keynote are subject to Apple's standard iCloud
      fairness throttling, but no numeric ceiling is published.
  - name: iCloud Drive sync operations
    scope: account
    metric: varies
    limit: not publicly documented
policies:
  - name: Backoff Strategy
    description: Implement exponential backoff on any iCloud retry; honor Retry-After when present.
  - name: Keep Sessions Open
    description: For AppleScript/JXA loops, keep the Keynote application open and reuse existing references
      rather than re-launching the app per command.
  - name: Avoid Polling
    description: Prefer event-driven Shortcuts triggers over busy-loop polling against documents stored
      in iCloud Drive.
maintainers:
  - FN: Kin Lane
    email: kin@apievangelist.com