It looks like the rate limiting is also being applied to requests to
/w/rest.php/oauth2/authorize. Is this intentional? The user naturally won't
be authenticated yet during OAuth authorization. As OAuth is typically
implemented by using a 302 redirect to send the user to /authorize, apps
don't have control over the user agent as that's set by the browser, nor is
it possible to make the browser set the Api-User-Agent header.

This was brought up in
https://github.com/wikimedia-gadgets/gadget-deploy/issues/7.

On Sat, 14 Mar 2026 at 15:01, Daniel Kinzler via Wikitech-l <
[email protected]> wrote:

> 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].
>>
>> --
>> Daniel Kinzler
>> Principal Software Engineer
>> MediaWiki Engineering Group
>> Wikimedia Foundation
>>
>> _______________________________________________
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>> To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected]
>>
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>
>
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>
> --
> Daniel Kinzler
> Principal Software Engineer
> MediaWiki Engineering Group
> Wikimedia Foundation
>
>
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