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: Bureau of International Labor Affairs
providerId: bureau-of-international-labor-affairs
generated: '2026-09-05'
method: searched
source: >-
  https://dataportal.dol.gov/getting-started (Parameters section) and the DOL API Terms
  of Service ("Right to Limit"), read from the portal's shipped bundle
  https://dataportal.dol.gov/static/js/main.1788ccf8.js; plus live response-header
  inspection of https://apiprod.dol.gov/v4/datasets on 2026-09-05.
created: '2026-05-04'
modified: '2026-09-05'
supersedes: >-
  A 2026-05-04 bulk-sweep scaffold that asserted free/professional/enterprise tiers at
  10/100/1000 requests per minute with X-RateLimit-* headers. None of that was published
  by DOL. It has been replaced with what the provider actually documents.
description: >-
  The U.S. Department of Labor Open Data Portal API, which serves ILAB's datasets,
  publishes NO request-rate limit. What it publishes is a per-response size ceiling. The
  Terms of Service reserve an unspecified right to throttle or block, without stating any
  number.
limit_count: 1
rate_limits_published: false
headers:
  limit: null
  remaining: null
  reset: null
  retryAfter: null
  policy: null
  note: >-
    No RateLimit-*, X-RateLimit-* or Retry-After response header is documented, and none
    was present on a live 200 from https://apiprod.dol.gov/v4/datasets on 2026-09-05. An
    agent has no runtime signal to back off against.
responseCodes:
  throttled: null
  quotaExceeded: null
  note: >-
    No 429 is documented and none was observed. Undocumented — recorded as unknown rather
    than assumed.
limits:
  - name: Per-response record and payload ceiling
    scope: per-request
    metric: records_or_bytes
    limit: 10000
    max_bytes: 5242880
    window: per request
    parameter: limit
    default: 10
    status: published
    evidence: https://dataportal.dol.gov/getting-started
    quote: >-
      "You can receive up to 5 MB of data or 10,000 records per request, whichever limit
      you hit first."
    workaround: >-
      Documented: page with limit + offset. "if you need 20,000 records you would get the
      first chunk of 10,000 records by setting the limit to 10000 and offset to 0, and the
      second chunk ... offset to 10000."
policies:
  - name: Right to Limit (Terms of Service)
    published: true
    quantified: false
    evidence: https://dataportal.dol.gov/registration
    quote: >-
      "Your use of the API may be subject to certain limitations on access, calls, or use
      as set forth within this Agreement or otherwise provided by the DOL. If the DOL
      reasonably believes that you have attempted to exceed or circumvent these limits,
      your ability to use the API may be temporarily or permanently blocked. The DOL may
      monitor your use of the API to improve the service or to insure compliance with this
      Agreement."
    note: >-
      This is a discretionary enforcement clause with no threshold attached. It is the
      only rate-limit language DOL publishes.
  - name: API key count
    published: true
    detail: >-
      An account may hold up to 5 API keys, "for different purposes, client applications,
      or automation." This is a key-count cap, not a rate cap.
    evidence: https://dataportal.dol.gov/api-keys
gaps:
  - No requests-per-second/minute/hour/day figure is published.
  - No 429 status or Retry-After behaviour is documented.
  - No rate-limit response headers exist, so backoff cannot be driven by the API itself.
maintainers:
  - FN: Kin Lane
    email: kin@apievangelist.com