Re: New global API rate limits deployed for anonymous requests

Hello Piotr,

Tools like this should continue to work fine if they authenticate when making 
the API requests.  We don't want to break community tools, but we can't 
distinguish them from commercial scrapers, which we want to rate limit. So the 
way to fix the tools is to make the user log in, or to run the tools on WMCS.

The there are problems with making tools authenticate for making API calls, 
please let us know.

HTH,
Daniel

Am 13.03.26 um 22:41 schrieb Piotr Gackowski via Wikitech-l:
> This change has more or less crashed my workflows related to Structured Data 
> on Commons.
>
> Both Depictor and Wikicrowd have effectively stopped working for me. The “for 
> me” part is important — I have been making more than 100k edits per month for 
> the last three years.
>
> I have already reported the issues to the tool maintainers:
> https://github.com/hay/wiki-tools/issues/179
> https://github.com/addshore/wikicrowd/issues/236
>
> However, I want to highlight a broader problem. At Wikimania 2024 in Katowice, 
> I gave a presentation about adding Structured Data to Commons [1]. During that 
> talk, I recommended tools such as Depictor, Wikicrowd, AC/DC, and the SDC 
> tool. Since then, every single tool I mentioned has become heavily limited by 
> some form of rate limiting.
>
> As a result, I increasingly feel that my hands are tied with every new change 
> introduced by WMF in this area.
>
> PMG
> [1] 
> https://wikimania.wikimedia.org/wiki/2024:Program/What_tools_you_can_use_to_fill_Structure_Data_on_Commons_files.
>
> czw., 12 mar 2026 o 11:47 Daniel Kinzler via Wikitech-l 
> <[email protected]> napisał(a):
>
>     Hi all!
>
>     As previously announced
>     <https://lists.wikimedia.org/hyperkitty/list/[email protected]/thread/GBFZTN3A233IR6F4HEENCIUCVI2ZH6YB/>,
>     we have started rolling out new global API rate limits across our APIs to
>     help ensure fair and sustainable access
>     <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/MediaWiki_Product_Insights/Content_Reuse>to
>     Wikimedia resources.
>
>
>     We have just enabled the first set of limits, which apply to anonymous
>     requests from bots and unauthenticated requests from web browsers. See the
>     documentation on mediawiki.org <http://mediawiki.org>for more information.
>     This has now been updated with actual limits for anonymous requests and
>     authenticated bot requests that do not come from WMCS. We are still
>     finalizing the initial limits for User-Agent only (e.g. InstantCommons)
>     and authenticated browser requests.
>
>
>     As a next step, rate limits for logged in users will follow in early April
>     <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/MediaWiki_Product_Insights/Responsible_Reuse/WE5.1:_Developer_authentication_and_authorization#Timeline>.
>     The concrete limits will be communicated beforehand. Access for clients
>     running in WMCS and accounts that have a bot flag will not be affected by
>     this change. However, all developers are advised to familiarize themselves
>     with the new limits and follow the best practices outlined in the
>     documentation.
>
>
>     If you see any unexpected issues that might be the result of the limits
>     rolled out today, we are actively monitoring this list, relevant Talk
>     pages and [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>.
>
>
>     -- 
>     Daniel Kinzler
>     Principal Software Engineer
>     MediaWiki Engineering Group
>     Wikimedia Foundation
>
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>
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-- 
Daniel Kinzler
Principal Software Engineer
MediaWiki Engineering Group
Wikimedia Foundation

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