Lokalise Rate Limits

Overview

Lokalise enforces a strict 6 requests per second rate limit across all API endpoints (https://api.lokalise.com/api2). Exceeding this triggers a 429 Too Many Requests response. This skill covers request queuing with 170ms minimum spacing, exponential backoff for 429 recovery, bulk operation throttling, and proactive quota monitoring via response headers.

Prerequisites

• @lokalise/node-api SDK installed (npm install @lokalise/node-api)
• API token configured (read or read/write scope depending on operations)
• Node.js 18+ for native AbortController support in timeout handling

Instructions

1. Understand the Rate Limit Headers

Every Lokalise API response includes rate limit headers:

X-RateLimit-Limit: 6          # Max requests per second
X-RateLimit-Remaining: 4      # Requests remaining in current window
X-RateLimit-Reset: 1700000000 # Unix timestamp when the window resets
Retry-After: 1                # Seconds to wait (only on 429 responses)

Always read these headers. Never hardcode assumptions about the window — Lokalise may adjust limits per plan tier.

2. Implement a Request Queue with 170ms Spacing

Space requests at minimum 170ms apart (1000ms / 6 = ~167ms, rounded up). Use p-queue for concurrency control:

typescript
import PQueue from "p-queue";

const lokaliseQueue = new PQueue({
  concurrency: 1,
  interval: 170,
  intervalCap: 1,
});

async function queuedRequest<T>(fn: () => Promise<T>): Promise<T> {
  return lokaliseQueue.add(fn, { throwOnTimeout: true });
}

// Usage with the SDK
import { LokaliseApi } from "@lokalise/node-api";
const lokalise = new LokaliseApi({ apiKey: process.env.LOKALISE_API_TOKEN });

const keys = await queuedRequest(() =>
  lokalise.keys().list({
    project_id: "123456789.abcdefgh",
    limit: 500,
    page: 1,
  })
);

3. Add Exponential Backoff for 429 Recovery

When a 429 occurs, honor the Retry-After header first. If absent, use exponential backoff with jitter:

typescript
async function withBackoff<T>(
  fn: () => Promise<T>,
  maxRetries = 5
): Promise<T> {
  for (let attempt = 0; attempt <= maxRetries; attempt++) {
    try {
      return await fn();
    } catch (error: any) {
      if (error.code === 429 && attempt < maxRetries) {
        const retryAfter = error.headers?.["retry-after"];
        const baseDelay = retryAfter
          ? parseInt(retryAfter, 10) * 1000
          : Math.pow(2, attempt) * 1000;
        const jitter = Math.random() * 500;
        const delay = baseDelay + jitter;

        console.warn(
          `Rate limited. Attempt ${attempt + 1}/${maxRetries}. ` +
          `Waiting ${Math.round(delay)}ms...`
        );
        await new Promise((resolve) => setTimeout(resolve, delay));
        continue;
      }
      throw error;
    }
  }
  throw new Error("Max retries exceeded for Lokalise API request");
}

4. Throttle Bulk Operations

For operations that process many items (listing all keys, bulk translations), paginate with built-in throttling:

typescript
async function paginateAll<T>(
  fetchPage: (page: number) => Promise<{ items: T[]; totalPages: number }>
): Promise<T[]> {
  const allItems: T[] = [];
  let page = 1;
  let totalPages = 1;

  do {
    const result = await queuedRequest(() => fetchPage(page));
    allItems.push(...result.items);
    totalPages = result.totalPages;
    page++;
  } while (page <= totalPages);

  return allItems;
}

// Fetch all keys across pages
const allKeys = await paginateAll(async (page) => {
  const response = await lokalise.keys().list({
    project_id: projectId,
    limit: 500, // max per page
    page,
  });
  return {
    items: response.items,
    totalPages: response.totalCount
      ? Math.ceil(response.totalCount / 500)
      : 1,
  };
});

For bulk key creation, batch into groups of 500 (API limit per request) and queue each batch:

typescript
async function bulkCreateKeys(
  projectId: string,
  keys: Array<{ key_name: string; platforms: string[] }>
): Promise<void> {
  const batchSize = 500;
  for (let i = 0; i < keys.length; i += batchSize) {
    const batch = keys.slice(i, i + batchSize);
    await queuedRequest(() =>
      lokalise.keys().create({
        project_id: projectId,
        keys: batch,
      })
    );
    console.log(
      `Created keys ${i + 1}-${Math.min(i + batchSize, keys.length)} ` +
      `of ${keys.length}`
    );
  }
}

5. Monitor Quota Proactively

Track remaining quota and preemptively slow down before hitting the limit:

typescript
let remainingRequests = 6;
let resetTimestamp = 0;

function updateQuota(headers: Record<string, string>): void {
  remainingRequests = parseInt(headers["x-ratelimit-remaining"] ?? "6", 10);
  resetTimestamp = parseInt(headers["x-ratelimit-reset"] ?? "0", 10);
}

async function throttleIfNeeded(): Promise<void> {
  if (remainingRequests <= 1) {
    const now = Math.floor(Date.now() / 1000);
    const waitSeconds = Math.max(0, resetTimestamp - now) + 0.5;
    console.warn(
      `Quota nearly exhausted (${remainingRequests} remaining). ` +
      `Pausing ${waitSeconds}s until reset.`
    );
    await new Promise((resolve) =>
      setTimeout(resolve, waitSeconds * 1000)
    );
  }
}

Output

• Request queue enforcing 6 req/sec with 170ms minimum spacing between calls
• Automatic retry with exponential backoff + jitter on 429 responses
• Paginated fetching with throttling for bulk data retrieval
• Proactive throttling when X-RateLimit-Remaining drops to 1

Error Handling

| Header | Description | Action | |--------|-------------|--------| | X-RateLimit-Limit | Max requests per window (always 6) | Use as concurrency ceiling | | X-RateLimit-Remaining | Requests left in current window | Pause proactively when <= 1 | | X-RateLimit-Reset | Unix timestamp of window reset | Sleep until this time on exhaustion | | Retry-After | Seconds to wait (only on 429) | Always honor this value exactly |

If you receive a 429 without Retry-After, default to 1 second then exponential backoff. Never retry more than 5 times — if consistently rate-limited, your architecture needs request consolidation, not more retries.

Examples

Complete Rate-Limited Client

typescript
import { LokaliseApi } from "@lokalise/node-api";
import PQueue from "p-queue";

class RateLimitedLokalise {
  private api: LokaliseApi;
  private queue: PQueue;

  constructor(apiKey: string) {
    this.api = new LokaliseApi({ apiKey });
    this.queue = new PQueue({ concurrency: 1, interval: 170, intervalCap: 1 });
  }

  async request<T>(fn: (api: LokaliseApi) => Promise<T>): Promise<T> {
    return this.queue.add(
      () => withBackoff(() => fn(this.api)),
      { throwOnTimeout: true }
    );
  }
}

// Usage
const client = new RateLimitedLokalise(process.env.LOKALISE_API_TOKEN!);
const keys = await client.request((api) =>
  api.keys().list({ project_id: "123456789.abcdefgh", limit: 500 })
);

CLI with Rate Limiting

bash
# The lokalise2 CLI respects rate limits internally, but for scripted
# loops you need manual spacing:
for project_id in $(lokalise2 project list --token $TOKEN --format json \
  | jq -r '.[].project_id'); do
  lokalise2 file download \
    --token "$LOKALISE_API_TOKEN" \
    --project-id "$project_id" \
    --format json \
    --dest ./locales/"$project_id"/
  sleep 0.2  # 200ms spacing
done

Resources

• Lokalise API Rate Limits
• p-queue — Promise-based queue with concurrency control
• @lokalise/node-api SDK

Next Steps

For handling specific API errors beyond rate limits, see lokalise-common-errors.