> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.archefusion.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Rate limit

> Understand how Archefusion’s rate limit works.

Archefusion implements rate limits to prevent abuse and ensure service availability. This means that there is a limited number of requests you can make to an endpoint within a given time. When you hit this limit, you will receive a `429 Too Many Requests` response.

## How the limit works

The limit uses a token bucket model. This means that each accepted request consumes capacity, and once maximum capacity is reached, the request gets rejected with a `429 Too Many Requests` error. Over time, the bucket capacity refills automatically.

## When you hit the limit

1. You receive a `429 Too Many Requests`, which includes retry guidance in the error message.

<Note>
  It does not currently set a separate `Retry-After` response header.
</Note>

**Example:**

```json theme={null}
{
  "statusCode": 429,
  "message": "Rate limit exceeded (retry after 1s)"
}
```

2. Implement a conservative backoff when you receive the `429` error rather than retrying aggressively.

## Important note

The limit is applied per merchant account and endpoint. Therefore, when an endpoint is rate-limited, other endpoints will keep returning responses until they hit their limit.

## Stay within limits

To stay within the limit, listen for webhooks instead of polling. For example, you can listen for `payment.succeeded` and `payment.failed` events instead of calling the `verify payments` endpoint to get the final status of a transaction.