> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.langchain.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Rate limit policies

> Limit the number of requests or tokens a user, workspace, or API key can send through the LLM Gateway in a rolling time window.

<Note>
  **Private beta:** The LLM Gateway is in private [beta](/langsmith/release-stages). [Sign up for the waitlist](https://www.langchain.com/langsmith-llm-gateway-waitlist) to get access.
</Note>

A rate limit policy restricts how many **requests** or **tokens** a subject can consume through the [LLM Gateway](/langsmith/llm-gateway) in a short rolling time window. The gateway enforces the limit in real time and blocks any request that would push the subject past it, returning a `429` response with a `Retry-After` header:

```
API Error: 429 request blocked by gateway policies: Dev Team Rate Limit
Retry-After: 42
```

The `Retry-After` value is the number of seconds until the current window resets. Clients should honor this header and back off before retrying.

Rate limit policies and [spend cap policies](/langsmith/llm-gateway-spend-policies) are complementary and can be applied together—spend caps for cost control, rate limits for throughput and traffic control.

## Policy dimensions

Rate limit policies are evaluated for every incoming request. You can set a policy as a default (applying a blanket rate limit to all users, [workspaces](/langsmith/administration-overview#workspaces), or [API keys](/langsmith/create-account-api-key) or as a granular policy (an individual limit or a limit on a group of subjects).

| Subject       | What it limits                                                                                 | Example                                                                    |
| ------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **User**      | Requests or tokens from a single user or group of users (resolved from the API key's identity) | "No individual developer can send more than 100 requests per minute"       |
| **Workspace** | Requests or tokens within a single workspace or group of workspaces                            | "The R\&D workspace cannot exceed 1,000,000 tokens per hour"               |
| **API key**   | Requests or tokens from a single API key or group of API keys                                  | "The customer support agent keys share a limit of 200 requests per minute" |

### Defaults vs. granular policies

Rate limit policies have two modes:

1. **Default policies** apply automatically to every member of a subject dimension. Example: "Every user in this workspace gets a default cap of 100 requests per minute." No need to create a policy per person.
2. **Granular policies** target a named subject and override the default for that subject only. Example: "The on-call engineer gets 500 requests per minute." Editing the default updates everyone still on it.

### Independent enforcement

Each subject is tracked and enforced separately. One user hitting their limit does not affect other users.

## Limits

A single rate limit policy can enforce **multiple limits at once**. For example, one policy can enforce both *100 requests per minute* and *1,000,000 tokens per hour* simultaneously.

Each limit has three fields:

| Field      | Allowed values                                                    |
| ---------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Metric** | `requests` or `tokens` (total tokens as reported by the provider) |
| **Window** | `minute` or `hour`                                                |
| **Value**  | A positive integer (the cap)                                      |

Rules:

* At least one limit is required per policy.
* You cannot have two limits with the same metric and window combination within one policy.

## Create a rate limit policy

<Warning>
  Creating and managing policies requires `organization:manage` permission. For the full permissions breakdown, refer to [Traces, Engine, and access control](/langsmith/llm-gateway-access).
</Warning>

1. Go to **Settings → Gateway → LLM Gateway**.
2. Click **Create policy**.
3. Select **Rate limit** as the policy type.
4. Select the subject scope (user, workspace, or API key).
5. Add one or more limits, each with a metric, window, and value.
6. Save.

Policies take effect immediately.

## Next steps

* [Spend policies](/langsmith/llm-gateway-spend-policies): set cost caps alongside rate limits.
* [PII and secrets redaction](/langsmith/llm-gateway-redaction): add data protection policies.

***

<div className="source-links">
  <Callout icon="terminal-2">
    [Connect these docs](/use-these-docs) to Claude, VSCode, and more via MCP for real-time answers.
  </Callout>

  <Callout icon="edit">
    [Edit this page on GitHub](https://github.com/langchain-ai/docs/edit/main/src/langsmith/llm-gateway-rate-limit-policies.mdx) or [file an issue](https://github.com/langchain-ai/docs/issues/new/choose).
  </Callout>
</div>