Q: What does a 429 error mean and is it permanent? A: A 429 “Too Many Requests” error means the server thinks you are sending requests too fast. It is usually temporary and you can check the Retry-After header to see when to retry, which is a key part of how to fix 429 errors. Q: As a visitor, what quick steps can I take to resolve a 429? A: Refresh after the time shown in the Retry-After header or wait 1–2 minutes, close extra tabs, and disable aggressive browser extensions. You can also switch networks or restart your router to get a new IP, clear site cookies and cache, and contact the site owner if the issue persists. Q: As a site owner, what should I check first when I see many 429 responses? A: Check CDN and WAF dashboards and open your server and application logs to find which endpoints are returning 429 and inspect headers such as Retry-After and any rate-limit headers. Look for bursts from a single IP, user agent, or API key and reproduce the pattern with a small load test to confirm thresholds. Q: How can I tune rate limiting without simply raising limits? A: Use token bucket or sliding window algorithms and allow a higher burst while keeping a similar long-term average, and prefer limiting by client identity such as API key or session rather than only IP. Whitelist verified bots and trusted services, challenge unknown traffic, and return clear headers like Retry-After and remaining quota. Q: What caching and queuing strategies help prevent 429 errors? A: Put a CDN in front, cache HTML for guests and use ETags or Last-Modified, and add server-side caching to hot endpoints like search or product lists. Move heavy work to background jobs, queue requests when under load, and cap per-user concurrency to smooth spikes. Q: What client-side practices should API consumers follow to avoid or recover from 429s? A: Read and obey Retry-After headers, use exponential backoff with jitter, and set a maximum retry count so clients don’t retry in a tight loop. Also throttle concurrency, batch actions, cache GET results with ETags, prefer webhooks or queues over frequent polling, and stagger cron jobs. Q: How can WordPress sites reduce the chance of triggering 429s? A: Enable full-page caching and a CDN, exclude logged-out pages from PHP when possible, and trim high-churn endpoints such as Heartbeat and frequent search calls. Also reduce wp-cron frequency, adjust security plugin or WAF rules to avoid overly strict blocking, and allowlist admin IPs when appropriate. Q: What monitoring and testing should teams use to prevent future 429 spikes? A: Add alerts for 429 rate, p95 latency, and queue depth, and log client identifiers so you can find noisy neighbors quickly. Run load tests that simulate real bursts and bot-like patterns and use synthetic checks from multiple regions to catch WAF or CDN misfires, which are important parts of how to fix 429 errors proactively.