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

# Rate limits and credits

> Understand request admission, rate limits, idempotency, and Research credits.

RISOS applies request admission and rate limits independently from Research credit accounting.

Read endpoints and zero-spend Ask do not reserve Research credits. Starting or refreshing a ResearchJob estimates cost from its current Skill plan and settles only fresh or refreshed work. Reused work costs zero credits.

A rate-limited request returns `429` and may include `Retry-After`. Back off with jitter rather than retrying in a tight loop.

For `POST /research-jobs`, retries must preserve the same `Idempotency-Key`. This lets clients safely recover from an uncertain network response without creating duplicate paid Research.

RISOS does not promise one universal numeric request limit across every endpoint or plan. Treat the live response headers and current commercial plan as authoritative.