name: MediaWiki REST API Rate Limits
description: Rate limiting information for the MediaWiki REST API (/w/rest.php/v1). The REST API shares Wikimedia's infrastructure and follows the same etiquette guidelines as the Action API. Responsible usage and proper User-Agent headers are required.
url: https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/API:REST_API
created: "2026-06-13"
modified: "2026-06-13"
rateLimits:
  - name: Read Requests
    description: No published hard rate limit for read operations. Requests should be made responsibly and in series rather than in parallel to avoid triggering automated blocks.
    quota: unlimited
    period: none
    unit: requests
    notes: Set a descriptive User-Agent. Use caching and avoid repeated identical queries.

  - name: Write Requests
    description: Page creation and editing endpoints are subject to rate limiting. Authenticated requests using OAuth 2.0 have higher limits than anonymous requests.
    quota: variable
    period: variable
    unit: requests
    notes: Write operations require OAuth 2.0 authentication. Limits vary by account type and wiki configuration.

authentication:
  - type: OAuth2
    description: Required for all write operations (POST, PUT). Read operations are unauthenticated.
    url: https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/OAuth/For_Developers

throttlingBehavior:
  retryStrategy: exponential-backoff
  userAgentRequired: true
  userAgentFormat: "clientname/version (contact-url; contact-email) library/version"

restrictions:
  - description: A descriptive User-Agent header is required for all requests to Wikimedia APIs. Mimicking browser user-agents is prohibited.
    required: true
  - description: OAuth 2.0 credentials are required for all content modification endpoints.
    required: true
    appliesTo: write-operations