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Memic applies rate limits per API key to protect the service and ensure fair usage. Limits vary by endpoint — ingestion endpoints are more generous than search/chat because indexing is long-running but happens less often.
Rate limits are evolving as Memic scales. The numbers below are defaults; if your workload needs higher limits, contact us via the dashboard.

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Default limits (per API key)

Endpoint categoryLimitWindow
Search (POST /search)60 requestsper minute
Chat (POST /chat)30 requestsper minute
File ingestion (POST /files/init, /confirm)120 requestsper minute
Status polls (GET /files/{id}/status)300 requestsper minute
List endpoints (GET /files, GET /projects)120 requestsper minute
Prompts (GET /prompts/{name})600 requestsper minute

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When you hit a limit

The API returns 429 Too Many Requests with a Retry-After header in seconds: 
HTTP/1.1 429 Too Many Requests
Retry-After: 12
Content-Type: application/json

{
  "detail": "Rate limit exceeded. Retry after 12 seconds.",
  "code": "rate_limit_exceeded",
  "request_id": "req_01J9..."
}
Respect the Retry-After value. Do not retry faster — doing so will extend your penalty window.

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Handling 429 in code

The Python SDK handles this automatically with exponential backoff + jitter. If you’re hitting the API directly, use the Retry-After header: 
import time
import requests

def call_with_retry(url, headers, json, max_attempts=5):
    for attempt in range(max_attempts):
        r = requests.post(url, headers=headers, json=json)
        if r.status_code != 429:
            return r
        wait = int(r.headers.get("Retry-After", 2 ** attempt))
        time.sleep(wait)
    r.raise_for_status()

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Best practices

  • Cache identical search/chat queries — if you’re running the same query repeatedly (e.g. for every page view), add a short client-side cache
  • Batch where you can — use the list endpoint with page_size=100 instead of polling item-by-item
  • Back off on failure — don’t tight-loop retries
  • Use the Python SDK — it handles retry and backoff automatically

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Need higher limits?

Reach out via the dashboard. Most workloads comfortably fit within the defaults, but we regularly adjust for customers with legitimate traffic needs.

Errors

Full error format reference.