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Rate Limits Guide

Shim enforces two types of limits: requests per minute and monthly repairs. Behavior differs by tier.

Tier Limits


Free and Pro Tiers

Grace Period (100-110%)

Continue at full speed. No degradation.

Phase 1 Throttle (110-150%)

Throttle to reduced rate:
  • Free: 10 requests/min
  • Pro: 100 requests/min

Phase 2 Throttle (150%+)

Hard throttle:
  • Free: 1 request/min
  • Pro: 10 requests/min

Why Throttle?

Free and Pro tiers are fixed-price. Throttling prevents runaway costs while keeping your app online.

Team Tier

Grace Period (100-110%)

Continue at full speed. No degradation.

Metered Billing (110%+)

Full speed. Billed $0.30 per 1,000 repairs over 110%.
Calculation:

Why Metered?

Team tier expects high volume. Metered billing scales with usage without throttling.

Response Headers

Per-Minute Rate Limit

Standard rate limit headers on every response:

Monthly Usage

Usage tracking headers on every response:

X-Shim-Overage

Overage phase header (only present when usage exceeds 100%):

Handling Rate Limits

Check Headers

Exponential Backoff

Alert on High Usage


Console Monitoring

View real-time usage in your console:
  1. Go to console.shim.so
  2. Check usage meter
  3. View daily breakdown

Upgrading Tiers

Free → Pro

Increase limits:
  • 1K → 100K monthly repairs
  • 100 → 1K requests/min

Pro → Team

Unlock metered billing:
  • 100K → 1M base limit
  • 1K → 10K requests/min
  • Overage billing instead of throttling

Best Practices

1. Monitor Usage Headers

Check X-Shim-Usage on every request:

2. Cache Repairs

Avoid repairing the same output twice:

3. Use Streaming for Large Outputs

Streaming doesn’t reduce repair count, but spreads requests over time:

4. Set Alerts

Configure alerts at 80% and 100%:

FAQ

Does streaming count as one repair or many?

One repair. A streaming session (start → push × N → finalize) counts as one repair.

When do limits reset?

Monthly limits reset on your billing cycle date. View in dashboard.

Can I request a limit increase?

Team tier is the highest standard tier. Contact sales for custom plans.

What happens if I downgrade?

Limits adjust immediately. If over new limit, throttling applies.

Next Steps

Authentication

View your API key and tier

Error Codes

Handle RATE_LIMIT_EXCEEDED

Upgrade

Upgrade your tier

Console

Monitor usage in real-time