Errors and rate limits

Scite returns JSON error responses with a detail field. Use the HTTP status code to decide whether to change the request, update access, or retry.

Common errors

Status	Meaning	What to do
`401 Unauthorized`	The endpoint requires authentication, but the request has no valid credential.	Add or replace the `Authorization: Bearer <YOUR_API_KEY>` header.
`403 User not authorized`	The credential is valid, but the key or account lacks the required scope.	Check the key’s scopes in the API Console. If the scope isn’t available, contact sales.
`404`	The requested DOI, task, collection, or other resource wasn’t found.	Check the identifier. Don’t retry the same value unchanged.
`422`	A parameter or request body failed validation.	Use the response details to correct the field name, type, or format.
`429`	The request exceeded a rate limit.	Wait for the indicated reset, then retry with backoff.

For example, Search without a key returns:

{
  "detail": "Unauthorized"
}

A valid key without the required feature scope returns:

{
  "detail": "User not authorized"
}

Rate limit headers

Authenticated responses expose the current short-window limit through RateLimit-* headers and the minute limit through X-RateLimit-*-Minute headers:

RateLimit-Limit: <short-window-limit>
RateLimit-Remaining: <short-window-remaining>
RateLimit-Reset: <seconds-until-reset>
X-RateLimit-Limit-Minute: <minute-limit>
X-RateLimit-Remaining-Minute: <minute-remaining>

Limits vary by endpoint and account. Read the headers instead of hard-coding a request rate.

Retry safely

Don’t retry 401, 403, 404, or 422 responses without changing the credential or request.
For 429 and transient 5xx responses, use exponential backoff with jitter.
Honor Retry-After when the response includes it. Otherwise wait until the indicated rate-limit reset.
Set a maximum retry count and an overall timeout.
Avoid retrying write requests unless your application can prevent duplicate changes.

Polling asynchronous tasks

Assistant and Reference Check return a task ID that you poll for results. Don’t poll in a tight loop. Back off between requests, enforce an overall timeout, and preserve the exact task ID returned by the submit request. See the Assistant guide and Reference Check guide for their task flows.

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Errors and rate limits

Common errors

Rate limit headers

Retry safely

Polling asynchronous tasks

​Common errors

​Rate limit headers

​Retry safely

​Polling asynchronous tasks

Common errors

Rate limit headers

Retry safely

Polling asynchronous tasks