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: Sketchfab
providerId: sketchfab
created: '2026-05-25'
modified: '2026-05-25'
reconciled: false
tags:
  - 3D
  - Rate Limiting
description: >
  Sketchfab does not publish a single canonical rate-limit table in its developer
  portal. In practice the Data API enforces conservative per-token request rates
  appropriate to a publishing platform, and download URLs are short-lived signed
  links. The Developer Guidelines also impose qualitative rules around aggressive
  scraping and re-distribution. This artifact captures the observed envelope and
  the headers returned by the platform.
sources:
  - https://sketchfab.com/developers/guidelines
  - https://sketchfab.com/developers/data-api
  - https://sketchfab.com/developers/download-api
headers:
  limit: X-RateLimit-Limit
  remaining: X-RateLimit-Remaining
  reset: X-RateLimit-Reset
  retryAfter: Retry-After
responseCodes:
  throttled: 429
  unauthorized: 401
  forbidden: 403
algorithm: fixed-window
limits:
  - tier: Personal API token / OAuth (default)
    api: Data API
    rpm: 60
    notes: Conservative default. Authenticated calls receive higher headroom than anonymous ones.
  - tier: Anonymous (public read)
    api: Data API
    rpm: 30
    notes: Public model search and detail endpoints. Aggressive crawling is blocked.
  - tier: Enterprise contract
    api: Data API
    rpm: negotiated
    notes: Custom quotas negotiated with Sketchfab.
  - tier: Any
    api: Download API
    rpm: 30
    notes: Download URLs are short-lived signed links; rapid replays are throttled.
  - tier: Any
    api: oEmbed
    rpm: 60
    notes: Cached aggressively at the CDN edge.
policies:
  - name: Developer Guidelines
    description: Sketchfab's Developer Guidelines forbid bulk re-distribution and excessive crawling and reserve the right to revoke tokens that violate these rules.
  - name: Signed download URLs
    description: Download API responses contain signed URLs that expire within minutes; callers must download before expiry.
  - name: License compliance
    description: Downloaders must respect the Creative Commons / Standard license attached to each model.