If you're building with Gemini, OpenAI, or any OpenAI-compatible API, you've probably hit the dreaded 429 rate limit error. Especially painful when you're using free-tier keys.
Rotato solves this elegantly — it's a lightweight Node.js proxy that sits between your app and the API. When one key gets rate-limited, it automatically rotates to the next one. Zero downtime, zero dependencies.
Why I love it
- Works with Gemini, OpenAI, Groq, Cerebras, OpenRouter, Ollama — anything OpenAI-compatible
- Zero dependencies (just Node.js)
- Drop-in replacement — just change your base URL
- Comprehensive logging so you know exactly what's happening
Quick setup
git clone https://github.com/p32929/rotato
cd rotato
# Add your keys to .env
node index.js
Then point your app to http://localhost:3000 instead of https://api.openai.com. That's it.
Who is this for?
- Anyone juggling multiple free-tier API keys
- Apps that need high availability without paying for premium tiers
- Developers who want a self-hosted solution with no vendor lock-in
The project is fully open source and actively maintained. If you're tired of 429s killing your workflows, give it a try.
Found this useful? Drop a star on the repo — it helps others discover it too!
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