Understanding API Rate Limits with Gemini - "Sliding Window" vs. Calendar Minute

Gemini API
1

Hi everyone,

I’m trying to understand how rate limits work with APIs like Gemini, and I’m having a bit of trouble grasping the timing aspect. Specifically, I’m curious about the behavior of the “requests per minute” (RPM) limit and how it interacts with the actual time.

Gemini, for example, has a free tier limit of 10 RPM (10 requests per minute). I understand this means I can make 10 requests within a 60-second window. However, I’m unclear on whether this window is a “sliding window” or a calendar minute.

Here’s a scenario to illustrate my confusion:

Let’s say I send 10 requests to Gemini at 12:00:30 , hitting my free tier limit. Now, I need to make another request from my Laravel framework.

  • Option A: Do I have to wait until exactly 12:01:00 , the start of the next calendar minute to resume sending requests?

  • Option B: Or can I send new requests after waiting for exactly one minute since the time of my first request at 12:00:30, which would mean I can start sending new requests at 12:01:30 ?

In other words, is the minute window fixed to a calendar minute or is it a “sliding window” that starts from my first request?

I’d appreciate any clarification on this, especially if someone has experience working with rate limits with Gemini or similar APIs. It would help me optimize my requests and avoid unexpected errors.

Thanks in advance for your help!

3

Welcome to the forum.

The usual approach to deal with rate limits, which works independently of the policy in use by the Google backend (which would be subject to change anyway) is to use the 429 http error return code as a “congestion” signal. Client applications experiencing congestion perform several automatic retries with exponential backoff (Exponential backoff - Wikipedia). This approach is preferred to what you are trying to do, which is equivalent to “collision avoidance”, because any small change in the server policy will invalidate your previously well-functioning avoidance approach.

Hope that helps.

1 Like
5

Thanx! It’s really better!