name: Congress.gov API Rate Limits
description: Rate limiting policies for the Congress.gov API.
url: https://github.com/LibraryOfCongress/api.congress.gov
limits:
  - name: Hourly Request Limit
    description: >
      The Congress.gov API enforces a rate limit of 5,000 requests per hour per
      API key. Requests exceeding this threshold will be rejected until the
      rolling window resets.
    requests: 5000
    period: hour
    scope: api_key
  - name: Default Page Size
    description: >
      Responses default to 20 results per request. The limit parameter can be
      used to request up to 250 results per page.
    default: 20
    maximum: 250
    parameter: limit
  - name: Offset Pagination
    description: >
      The offset parameter controls the starting record position for paginated
      responses. No hard cap on total records retrievable; pagination can be
      used to walk through all results.
    parameter: offset
notes:
  - Rate limit exemptions can be requested by submitting an issue in the GitHub repository.
  - The rate limit applies equally to both JSON and XML response formats.
  - No burst limits or daily caps are documented beyond the hourly limit.
contact: https://github.com/LibraryOfCongress/api.congress.gov/issues