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Retry-After Header

Tells the client how long to wait before making a follow-up request.

Header TypeResponse Header
SpecificationStandard RFC compliant
Associated CodesHTTP 429,HTTP 503

What is the Retry-After header?

The Retry-After response header tells the client how long they should wait before retrying the request.

API Usage & Best Practices

  • Required on 429 & 503: Always include this header when rate limiting a client or undergoing planned maintenance.
  • Value representation: Can be expressed either as a decimal integer of seconds to wait (e.g. Retry-After: 120) or as an HTTP-date. Seconds are generally preferred in APIs.

Examples

HTTP/1.1 429 Too Many Requests
Retry-After: 60

Associated HTTP Status Codes

HTTP 429 — Too Many Requests

The user has sent too many requests in a given amount of time.

View reference →

HTTP 503 — Service Unavailable

The server is temporarily down or overloaded. The client should retry.

View reference →

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