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: Govee
providerId: govee
created: '2026-07-03'
modified: '2026-07-03'
reconciled: false
tags:
- Smart Home
- Smart Lighting
- IoT
- Device Control
- Rate Limiting
- Quotas
description: >-
  The Govee Developer API enforces an account-wide limit of 10,000 requests per
  API key per day (rolling 24 hours). In addition, a per-device per-minute limit
  applies to control and query calls so that a single device is not flooded with
  commands (community-observed at roughly 10 requests per device per minute).
  Rate-limit state is exposed on responses via API-RateLimit-Limit,
  API-RateLimit-Remaining, and API-RateLimit-Reset headers, and exceeding a limit
  returns HTTP 429. The local LAN API is not subject to the cloud rate limits.
notes: >-
  The 10,000/account/day cap is documented by Govee. The exact per-device
  per-minute number is not stated as a single canonical figure in the reference
  and is reported by integrators (~10/min); treat it as approximate and honor the
  API-RateLimit-* headers as the source of truth.
sources:
- https://developer.govee.com/reference/get-you-devices
- https://developer.govee.com/reference/get-devices-status
- https://developer.govee.com/docs/getting-started
responseCodes:
  throttled: 429
limits:
- name: Account Daily Requests
  scope: account
  metric: requests
  limit: 10000 per day
  notes: Per API key, rolling 24 hours. Exceeding returns HTTP 429.
- name: Per-Device Request Rate
  scope: device
  metric: requests
  limit: per-device per-minute (approx 10/min, integrator-reported)
  notes: Protects individual devices from command flooding on control and state calls.
- name: LAN API
  scope: local-network
  metric: requests
  limit: not cloud-limited
  notes: Local UDP control bypasses the cloud rate limits entirely.
headers:
- name: API-RateLimit-Limit
  description: Ceiling of requests allowed in the current window.
- name: API-RateLimit-Remaining
  description: Requests remaining in the current window.
- name: API-RateLimit-Reset
  description: When the current window resets.
policies:
- name: Backoff on 429
  description: On HTTP 429, stop sending and retry with exponential backoff, guided by the API-RateLimit-Reset header.
- name: Prefer State Caching
  description: Cache device state and avoid polling tighter than needed; the daily cap is shared across all calls on the key.
- name: Use LAN for High Frequency
  description: For rapid or high-frequency control (e.g. animations), use the local LAN API, which is not bounded by the cloud limits.
- name: Event Subscription over Polling
  description: For capabilities that emit events, subscribe over MQTT (topic GA/{apiKey}) instead of polling /device/state to conserve the daily quota.
maintainers:
- FN: Kin Lane
  email: kin@apievangelist.com