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: Swapcard
providerId: swapcard
created: '2026-07-12'
modified: '2026-07-12'
reconciled: false
tags:
- Events
- GraphQL
- Rate Limiting
- Quotas
description: >-
  Swapcard's Content API applies a cost-based (query-complexity) rate limit
  rather than a simple requests-per-minute cap. Each request is assigned a point
  cost and accounts are limited by points consumed per minute. Additional
  structural guards cap query depth, aliases, tokens, directives, and request
  body size. Values below are documented on the Content API Limitations page;
  the Leads API documents its own limits separately (verify on its Limitations
  page).
notes: >-
  Swapcard reserves the right to temporarily adjust limits per user to protect
  service and prevent abuse without advance notice. Cost weights: mutations
  1,000 points, objects 2 points, scalars 1 point, with a 1.5x depth factor.
sources:
- https://swapcard.dev/content-api/limitations
- https://swapcard.dev/leads-api/limitations
responseCodes:
  throttled: 429
limits:
- name: Points Per Minute
  scope: account
  metric: points
  limit: 60000
  timeFrame: minute
  notes: Cost-based budget across all queries/mutations in a rolling minute.
- name: Max Points Per Query
  scope: request
  metric: points
  limit: 10000
  notes: A single query/mutation may not exceed 10,000 points of complexity.
- name: Max Nesting Depth
  scope: request
  metric: levels
  limit: 20
  notes: Up to 20 levels of nested objects per query.
- name: Max Aliases
  scope: request
  metric: aliases
  limit: 50
  notes: Up to 50 aliases per query.
- name: Max Tokens
  scope: request
  metric: tokens
  limit: 2000
  notes: Combined fields, arguments, and aliases capped at 2,000 tokens.
- name: Max Directives
  scope: request
  metric: directives
  limit: 20
  notes: Up to 20 directives per query.
- name: Max Request Body Size
  scope: request
  metric: bytes
  limit: 1048576
  notes: Request body may not exceed 1 megabyte.
policies:
- name: Cost-Based Budgeting
  description: Requests consume a point budget (mutations 1000, objects 2, scalars 1, depth factor 1.5x); throttling triggers when the per-minute budget is exhausted.
- name: Dynamic Adjustment
  description: Swapcard may temporarily lower limits for an individual user to guarantee service and prevent abuse, without advance notification.
- name: Backoff Strategy
  description: Clients should implement exponential backoff with jitter and honor 429 responses; keep queries shallow and request only needed fields to stay within the point budget.
maintainers:
- FN: Kin Lane
  email: kin@apievangelist.com