Help & Support

Understanding Xero API Rate Limits and Backups with Control-C

This article explains API rate limits and how they affect Control-C's Xero backups.

What are API Rate Limits?

Xero, like many online services, imposes limitations on how frequently apps can access their data through an API (Application Programming Interface). These limitations are called API rate limits. For Xero Add-On partners like Control-C, there's a daily quota on API calls. This quota is non-negotiable and applies to all third-party Xero add-ons.

How Do Rate Limits Affect Backups?

The initial backup for a new client is a complete copy of all their Xero data that Control-C has access to via the Xero API. The size of this initial backup can vary depending on the amount of data stored in the Xero organization. For some clients with a lot of data, the first backup may take several days or even weeks to complete.

This extended timeframe is due to the API rate limits. Control-C can only make a certain number of API calls per day to retrieve your data. Once the limit is reached, the backup process pauses until the next day when the quota resets.

Subsequent backups, however, are much faster (usually under a few minutes) because they only need to capture data changes from the previous day.

Here's a summary:

• API rate limits are a normal function of Xero and many other online services.
• They are not a fault or error, but simply a way to manage system resources.
• If the backup seems to stall, it's likely because the daily API limit has been reached. The process will resume automatically the next day.
• This is neither a Control-C issue nor a Xero error, it's simply the system working as intended.

Xero API Rate Limits Explained

Here's a breakdown of Xero's API rate limits for Add-On partners:

• Concurrent Limit: A maximum of 5 API calls can be in progress at any given time.
• Minute Limit: No more than 60 API calls can be made within a single minute.
• Daily Limit: The total number of API calls allowed per day is 5,000.

By understanding these limits, you can have a clearer picture of how Control-C manages your Xero backups.