Juicebox Rate Limits

Overview

Understand and implement proper rate limiting handling for Juicebox API.

Rate Limit Tiers

Plan	Requests/Min	Requests/Day	Searches/Month
Free	10	100	500
Pro	60	5,000	25,000
Enterprise	300	50,000	Unlimited

Instructions

Step 1: Understand Rate Limit Headers

// Juicebox returns these headers with every response
interface RateLimitHeaders {
  'x-ratelimit-limit': string;      // Max requests per window
  'x-ratelimit-remaining': string;  // Remaining requests
  'x-ratelimit-reset': string;      // Unix timestamp when limit resets
  'retry-after'?: string;           // Seconds to wait (only on 429)
}

function parseRateLimitHeaders(headers: Headers) {
  return {
    limit: parseInt(headers.get('x-ratelimit-limit') || '0'),
    remaining: parseInt(headers.get('x-ratelimit-remaining') || '0'),
    reset: new Date(parseInt(headers.get('x-ratelimit-reset') || '0') * 1000),
    retryAfter: parseInt(headers.get('retry-after') || '0')
  };
}

Step 2: Implement Rate Limiter

// lib/rate-limiter.ts
export class RateLimiter {
  private queue: Array<() => Promise<void>> = [];
  private processing = false;
  private lastRequestTime = 0;
  private minInterval: number;

  constructor(requestsPerMinute: number) {
    this.minInterval = 60000 / requestsPerMinute;
  }

  async execute<T>(fn: () => Promise<T>): Promise<T> {
    return new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
      this.queue.push(async () => {
        try {
          const result = await fn();
          resolve(result);
        } catch (error) {
          reject(error);
        }
      });

      this.processQueue();
    });
  }

  private async processQueue() {
    if (this.processing || this.queue.length === 0) return;
    this.processing = true;

    while (this.queue.length > 0) {
      const now = Date.now();
      const elapsed = now - this.lastRequestTime;

      if (elapsed < this.minInterval) {
        await sleep(this.minInterval - elapsed);
      }

      const task = this.queue.shift();
      if (task) {
        this.lastRequestTime = Date.now();
        await task();
      }
    }

    this.processing = false;
  }
}

Step 3: Add Exponential Backoff

// lib/backoff.ts
export async function withExponentialBackoff<T>(
  fn: () => Promise<T>,
  options: {
    maxRetries?: number;
    baseDelay?: number;
    maxDelay?: number;
  } = {}
): Promise<T> {
  const { maxRetries = 5, baseDelay = 1000, maxDelay = 60000 } = options;

  let lastError: Error;

  for (let attempt = 0; attempt < maxRetries; attempt++) {
    try {
      return await fn();
    } catch (error: any) {
      lastError = error;

      if (error.code === 'RATE_LIMITED') {
        const retryAfter = error.retryAfter || 0;
        const backoffDelay = Math.min(
          baseDelay * Math.pow(2, attempt),
          maxDelay
        );
        const delay = Math.max(retryAfter * 1000, backoffDelay);

        console.log(`Rate limited. Retrying in ${delay}ms (attempt ${attempt + 1}/${maxRetries})`);
        await sleep(delay);
        continue;
      }

      throw error;
    }
  }

  throw lastError!;
}

Step 4: Implement Quota Tracking

// lib/quota-tracker.ts
export class QuotaTracker {
  private dailyRequests = 0;
  private dailyResetTime: Date;

  constructor(private dailyLimit: number) {
    this.dailyResetTime = this.getNextMidnight();
  }

  async checkQuota(): Promise<boolean> {
    this.maybeResetDaily();
    return this.dailyRequests < this.dailyLimit;
  }

  recordRequest() {
    this.dailyRequests++;
  }

  getRemainingQuota(): number {
    this.maybeResetDaily();
    return this.dailyLimit - this.dailyRequests;
  }

  private maybeResetDaily() {
    if (new Date() > this.dailyResetTime) {
      this.dailyRequests = 0;
      this.dailyResetTime = this.getNextMidnight();
    }
  }
}

Output

• Rate limiter with queue
• Exponential backoff handler
• Quota tracking system
• Header parsing utilities

Error Handling

Scenario	Strategy
429 with Retry-After	Wait exact duration
429 without Retry-After	Exponential backoff
Approaching limit	Proactive throttling
Daily quota exhausted	Queue for next day

Resources

• Rate Limits Documentation
• Quota Dashboard

Next Steps

After rate limit handling, see

juicebox-security-basics

for security best practices.