Rate limits

Limit	Default	Applies to
Requests per day	1,000	Every request except `GET /me`, per account, reset at midnight UTC
AI answers per day	50	`POST /answers`, the `answer` GraphQL field, and `answer_question` over MCP
Requests per minute	60	Per account

Headers

Every response tells you where you stand:

Header	Meaning
`RateLimit-Limit`	Requests allowed per day
`RateLimit-Remaining`	Requests left today
`RateLimit-Reset`	Seconds until the daily limit resets
`X-AI-Calls-Limit`, `X-AI-Calls-Remaining`	The same for AI answers
`Retry-After`	On a 429: seconds to wait before retrying

Handling 429

When you get a 429, wait Retry-After seconds. A short wait means the per-minute limit; a long one means the daily limit is used up, so stop until it resets. Over the daily AI limit, data and search endpoints keep working.

import time

def get(url, **kwargs):
    for attempt in range(5):
        r = session.get(url, **kwargs)
        if r.status_code != 429:
            r.raise_for_status()
            return r.json()
        wait = int(r.headers.get("Retry-After", "60"))
        if wait > 120:  # daily limit: retrying today won't help
            raise RuntimeError(r.json()["detail"])
        time.sleep(wait)
    raise RuntimeError("still rate limited after 5 tries")

Need higher limits for a newsroom, class, or research project? Email hello@chicagopolitics.org with what you're building.