specification: API Commons Rate Limits
specificationVersion: '0.1'
provider: Particle
providerId: particle
created: '2026-06-12'
modified: '2026-06-12'
reconciled: true
url: https://docs.particle.io/reference/cloud-apis/api/
headers:
  retryAfter: Retry-After
responseCodes:
  throttled: 429
limits:
  - name: General API calls
    description: >-
      Maximum number of REST API requests allowed from a single source IP
      address in any 5-minute window across general cloud API endpoints.
    scope: ip
    metric: requests
    limit: 10000
    timeFrame: 300
    timeFrameUnit: seconds
    type: sliding_window

  - name: Token creation
    description: >-
      Maximum number of OAuth token creation requests per source IP in a
      5-minute window. After 10 consecutive failed attempts, the IP is locked
      out for 30 minutes.
    scope: ip
    metric: requests
    limit: 100
    timeFrame: 300
    timeFrameUnit: seconds
    type: sliding_window
    notes: 30-minute lockout after 10 failed attempts

  - name: Token management and user creation
    description: >-
      Maximum requests for token management operations and new user account
      creation per source IP in a 5-minute window.
    scope: ip
    metric: requests
    limit: 100
    timeFrame: 300
    timeFrameUnit: seconds
    type: sliding_window

  - name: Events retrieval
    description: >-
      Maximum number of event-retrieval API calls per source IP in a 5-minute
      window.
    scope: ip
    metric: requests
    limit: 100
    timeFrame: 300
    timeFrameUnit: seconds
    type: sliding_window

  - name: Device serial number lookup
    description: >-
      Maximum number of device lookup-by-serial-number requests per user
      account per hour.
    scope: user
    metric: requests
    limit: 50
    timeFrame: 3600
    timeFrameUnit: seconds
    type: sliding_window

  - name: Concurrent event streams
    description: >-
      Maximum number of simultaneous Server-Sent Event (SSE) stream connections
      allowed from a single source IP address.
    scope: ip
    metric: concurrent_connections
    limit: 100
    timeFrame: 0
    timeFrameUnit: concurrent
    type: concurrency

notes:
  - Enterprise customers can request higher rate limits by contacting Particle support.
  - All API requests require TLSv1.2 or later.
  - Rate limit violations return HTTP 429. The Retry-After header indicates when requests may resume.