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: CarMD
providerId: carmd
generated: '2026-08-27'
created: '2026-05-04'
modified: '2026-08-27'
method: searched
source: https://carmd.com/llms.txt (fetched 2026-08-27) + live probes of https://carmd.com/api/ucp/mcp and https://carmd.com/api/2026-04/graphql.json
tags:
  - Automobiles
  - Cars
  - Diagnostics
  - Vehicles
  - Rate Limiting
description: >-
  Rate limiting CarMD actually documents. The only published statement is in the storefront's llms.txt,
  which says the UCP MCP endpoint is rate-limited per IP and that agents should back off on 429. No numeric
  ceiling, window, burst or RateLimit-* header is published for any CarMD surface, and none was observed on
  the responses captured during this run. The CarMD Vehicle API's limits could not be checked at all —
  api.carmd.com refused connections.
limit_count: 1
limits:
  - name: UCP MCP per-IP throttle
    surface: CarMD Universal Commerce (UCP) MCP Server
    endpoint: https://carmd.com/api/ucp/mcp
    scope: per-ip
    metric: requests
    limit: null
    burst: null
    window: null
    status_on_exhaustion: 429
    documented: true
    source: https://carmd.com/llms.txt
    quote: 'Respect rate limits. The MCP endpoint is rate-limited per IP. Back off on 429 responses.'
    note: Published as a behavioural rule with no number attached; the ceiling is not disclosed.
headers:
  limit: null
  remaining: null
  reset: null
  retryAfter: null
  policy: null
  observed: []
  note: >-
    No RateLimit-*, X-RateLimit-* or Retry-After header appeared on any 200 response captured from
    carmd.com during this run.
cost_signal:
  surface: CarMD Storefront GraphQL
  field: extensions.cost.requestedQueryCost
  observed: true
  example: 'a 2-product query returned {"cost":{"requestedQueryCost":5}}'
  note: >-
    A per-query cost figure is returned on every GraphQL response. It is a consumption signal rather than a
    published limit — the bucket size and restore rate are not disclosed on this endpoint.
responseCodes:
  throttled: 429
note: >-
  This file previously carried five invented per-tier limits (10/100/1000 rpm, 1,000 and 100,000
  requests/month) written by the 2026-05-04 bulk sweep. None of those numbers came from CarMD; they have
  been removed in favour of the one limit the provider genuinely publishes.
maintainers:
  - FN: Kin Lane
    email: kin@apievangelist.com