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: Superhero API
providerId: superhero
created: '2026-06-13'
modified: '2026-06-13'
reconciled: false
tags:
  - Superheroes
  - Comics
  - Characters
  - Entertainment
  - Rate Limiting
description: >-
  The Superhero API does not publish explicit rate limit values. The service is free and
  community-maintained; access tokens are issued per GitHub account. Limits below represent
  reasonable-use estimates. Clients should implement backoff on HTTP 429 or 503 responses.
sources:
  - https://www.superheroapi.com/
headers:
  limit: X-RateLimit-Limit
  remaining: X-RateLimit-Remaining
  reset: X-RateLimit-Reset
  retryAfter: Retry-After
responseCodes:
  throttled: 429
  serviceUnavailable: 503
limits:
  - tier: free
    name: Free Tier — Requests Per Minute
    scope: api-key
    metric: requests_per_minute
    limit: 60
    burst: 100
    timeFrame: minute
    applies:
      - Superhero API
  - tier: free
    name: Free Tier — Requests Per Day
    scope: api-key
    metric: requests_per_day
    limit: 10000
    timeFrame: day
    applies:
      - Superhero API
policies:
  - name: Token in URL
    description: >-
      The access token is embedded directly in the request URL path
      (https://superheroapi.com/api.php/{access-token}/{id}). Keep tokens private; do not expose
      them in public repositories or client-side JavaScript.
  - name: GitHub Login Required
    description: >-
      Obtain your access token by authenticating with GitHub at superheroapi.com. Tokens are
      personal and non-transferable.
  - name: Backoff Strategy
    description: >-
      Implement exponential backoff with jitter when receiving 429 or 503 responses. Honor the
      Retry-After header when present.
  - name: Fair Use
    description: >-
      The API is a free community resource. Sustained high-volume traffic or abusive request
      patterns may result in token revocation without notice.
maintainers:
  - FN: Kin Lane
    email: kin@apievangelist.com