What are the Scribble API rate limits?

For developers

Each API key allows 120 requests per minute. Requests over the limit return 429; wait for the number of seconds in Retry-After before retrying.

Rate limiting
Property	Value
Default limit	120 requests per minute
Scope	Per API key
Window	A fixed clock minute, not a rolling window
Response	`429` with body code `rate_limited`
Header	`Retry-After`, in seconds until the window resets
Counted	Every authenticated request, successful or not

A real 429 response

{
  "error": {
    "code": "rate_limited",
    "message": "This key is limited to 120 requests a minute. Try again in 33s, or ask us to raise the limit.",
    "docs": "https://scribblecards.com/app/integrations"
  }
}

The accompanying header on that response was retry-after: 33.

#Planning around it

How long a bulk job takes at 120 requests a minute
Records	Time at the default limit
500	About 4 minutes
2,000	About 17 minutes
10,000	About 84 minutes

For a one-off bulk send, a campaign is usually the better tool than a loop over the API: it prices the whole run, previews the extremes and lets you cancel. Use the API for the steady drip of event-driven cards.

Honoring Retry-After

import time, requests

def post_card(session, body, key):
    while True:
        res = session.post(
            "https://scribblecards.com/api/v1/cards",
            headers={"Authorization": f"Bearer {key}"},
            json=body,
            timeout=30,
        )
        if res.status_code != 429:
            return res
        # The header is authoritative. Do not guess, and do not
        # back off exponentially past it: the window is a clock minute.
        time.sleep(int(res.headers.get("Retry-After", "60")) + 1)

Last checked against the product on 2026-10-02. Something wrong or missing? Tell us.