SeatLayer API Rate Limits | SeatLayer Docs

Request budgets for the SeatLayer API, how each one is counted, the 429 response and headers, and how to back off safely.

SeatLayer limits a few routes so one caller cannot starve others. Selling has no request budget, and most other Server API routes have none either. Each limit below is a fixed window: the count starts with the first request and resets when the window ends.

Selling has no request budget

Your server can sell as fast as buyers arrive. These routes are never refused for rate, whatever one secret key sends:

Event holds: POST /v1/events/:key/hold, /extend, /release, /book, /best-available, /best-available-book and /best-available-block.
Season selling: POST /v1/seasons/:key/buyer-access-sessions and its revoke, GET /v1/seasons/:key/holds/:operationId, POST …/book, GET /v1/seasons/:key/bookings/:actionId and POST …/cancel.
Season renewals: POST /v1/seasons/:key/renewal-offers/:offerId/intent, /checkout and /commit, and POST /v1/holders/:holderRef/renewal-offers/:offerId/checkout.

Inventory stays protected without a budget. A hold has a time limit and a limit of 100 seats, and nothing sells while sales are closed. Buyer routes called from a browser keep their per-IP budgets (below).

Server API budgets

Budget	Limit	Counted per	Applies to
Seasons API	600 per minute	Secret key	Season setup, operations, renewal offers, holders and reports on `/v1/seasons/`; `/v1/holders/`, `/v1/customers` and `/v1/orders`; `POST /v1/webhooks/:id/rotate-secret`. The selling routes above are not counted
Manage sessions	300 per minute	`mse_…` token	Every route called with an event manage token
Panorama manifests	10 per day	Account and chart	`POST /v1/charts/:chartId/panorama-manifests`
Readiness	30 per minute	IP address	`GET /health/ready`

Season routes called from a signed-in dashboard session skip the Seasons API budget.

The readiness limit is approximate, so treat it as a rough guard for health checks, not an exact number.

Buyer and public budgets

These routes are called from browsers, so they are counted per IP address.

Budget	Limit	Counted per	Applies to
Buyer holds	120 per minute	IP address	Hold and Best Available calls on `/pub/*`
Buyer reads	3,000 per minute	IP address	Seat map and availability reads on `/pub/*`
Season buyer sessions	30 per minute	IP address and Season	`POST /pub/seasons/:key/sessions`
Performance Group buyer sessions	30 per minute	IP address and group	`POST /pub/performance-groups/:key/sessions`
Season renewal links	60 per minute	IP address	`/pub/season-renewals/*`

A buyer session is counted per IP and per Season or group, so many buyers behind one office or venue network do not lock each other out of different events.

The 429 response

A refused request answers 429 Too Many Requests:

429 responsejson

{
  "error": "rate_limited",
  "code": "rate_limited",
  "retryAfterSeconds": 12
}

Headershttp

Retry-After: 12
RateLimit-Limit: 600
RateLimit-Remaining: 0
RateLimit-Reset: 12
RateLimit-Policy: 600;w=60

Some details differ by route:

Manage-session and panorama responses send Retry-After only, without the RateLimit-* headers.
The readiness check sends {"error": "rate_limited"} with no headers.
Browsers can read Retry-After across origins. The RateLimit-* headers are visible to server callers only.

How to back off

Wait for Retry-After seconds, or retryAfterSeconds when the header is missing, before trying again. Do not retry in a tight loop.
A 429 means the request did nothing: no hold was created and no seat changed. Retrying after the wait is safe.
An on-sale through your own server needs no pacing: the selling routes have no budget. Poll a pending Season booking every few seconds rather than every second; polling faster does not book it sooner.
Use separate keys for separate systems. A reporting job on the same key as your Season setup competes for the Seasons budget.
Cache reads. Event lists, charts, and reports have no budget, but polling them every second adds load without new data. Use webhooks to learn about changes.

For how SeatLayer keeps inventory consistent when many buyers race for the same seats, see concurrency and performance. For every error code, see API errors.