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# Rate limits & credits

## Rate limits

Each API key has an **RPM limit** (requests per minute) enforced over a sliding
window of two 1-minute buckets. Exceeding it returns `429` with code
`rate_limit_exceeded` — back off and retry.

The limiter is **fail-open**: if the backing store has trouble, requests are
never blocked. You will not be rate-limited due to an infrastructure hiccup on
our side.

A separate `429 upstream_rate_limited` means the **provider** throttled us
rather than your key hitting its limit. Retry with backoff.

## Credits

Kontinent is **prepaid**. Your organization holds a credit balance in
[micro-EUR](/models#pricing-and-the-money-unit), and each request debits the
cost of the tokens it used.

* Credits are checked **optimistically** against a hot balance, so a small
  overdraft (bounded by your RPM) is possible by design.
* A background worker reconciles spend within about **60 seconds**. Once an
  organization is exhausted, further requests get a hard `402`
  (`insufficient_credits`) until a top-up lands.
* A top-up **lifts suspension immediately** — you do not wait for the next
  reconcile cycle.

`402 insufficient_credits` is safe to retry **after** topping up. Until then,
retrying without adding credit will keep failing.