Troubleshooting Reserved Throughput vs Shared Pools

Understanding Capacity and Rate Limits

Fikra API does not currently advertise reserved throughput, dedicated capacity, or specific shared-pool isolation guarantees in its public documentation. Access is governed by account verification status and standard rate limits:

• Unverified accounts: 30 requests per minute (RPM).
• Trusted accounts: 100 requests per minute (RPM).

If you are experiencing capacity-related issues, they are likely due to hitting these rate limits or temporary upstream unavailability, rather than a lack of reserved infrastructure.

Common Error Codes

Handling 429 and 503 Errors

When you receive a 429 (rate limit) or 503 (service unavailable) response, implement exponential backoff to avoid overwhelming the service. Do not assume automatic failover or dedicated capacity; instead, retry gracefully.

Python Example: Exponential Backoff

import time
import random
import requests

FIKRA_API_KEY = "your_api_key_here" # Load from environment variable in production
BASE_URL = "https://api.fikraapi.co.ke/v1"

def call_fikra_api(payload, max_retries=5):
    url = f"{BASE_URL}/chat/completions"
    headers = {
        "Authorization": f"Bearer {FIKRA_API_KEY}",
        "Content-Type": "application/json"
    }

    for attempt in range(max_retries):
        try:
            response = requests.post(url, json=payload, headers=headers)

            if response.status_code in [429, 503]:
                # Exponential backoff with jitter
                wait_time = (2 ** attempt) + random.uniform(0, 1)
                print(f"Received {response.status_code}. Retrying in {wait_time:.2f}s...")
                time.sleep(wait_time)
                continue

            response.raise_for_status()
            return response.json()

        except requests.exceptions.RequestException as e:
            if attempt == max_retries - 1:
                raise e
            wait_time = (2 ** attempt) + random.uniform(0, 1)
            time.sleep(wait_time)

# Example usage
payload = {
    "model": "fikra-flash",
    "messages": [{"role": "user", "content": "Hello"}]
}

try:
    result = call_fikra_api(payload)
    print(result)
except Exception as e:
    print(f"Request failed after retries: {e}")

Important Notes

• No SLA Guarantees: Fikra does not currently publish uptime SLAs or guaranteed response times. Plan your application logic to handle transient failures gracefully.
• Model Availability: Always check the Fikra dashboard or model registry for the current list of available aliases. Availability may vary.
• Verification: Ensure your account is verified to access the higher rate limit tier (100 RPM vs 30 RPM).