https://www.python.org/api/v2/downloads/release/ endpoint returns error

[hne3mu]

Describe the bug

Hello everybody,
I hope, this is the right place for opening this issue.
Since 2026-02-12, we receive an error in renovate, when the python dependency should be updated.
This seems to be, because the url that is used to fetch the versions (https://www.python.org/api/v2/downloads/release/) returns an error: {"detail":"Request was throttled. Expected available in 42578 seconds."} The number of seconds varies. I also get the error when I open the link in the browser, so I think, it is not a renovate issue.
Do you know by chance what is going on here?
Thanks a lot in advance for your help!

To Reproduce

Go to https://www.python.org/api/v2/downloads/release/
Error is displayed: {"detail":"Request was throttled. Expected available in 42578 seconds."}

Expected behavior

No error is returned

URL to the issue

https://www.python.org/api/v2/downloads/release/

Screenshots

Browsers

Chrome

Operating System

Linux

Browser Version

No response

Relevant log output

Additional context

No response

[fleblond07]

We're experience the issue as well

fwiw their is also a pr open on Renovate's repository to handle gracefully the 429 error:
renovatebot/renovate#41180

Would be nice to know if this is indeed an unwanted change or if we should use Github's API to fetch Python' latest version :)

[hne3mu]

Thanks for the addition!
For me it is really confusing that this rate limit error appears even if the link is just opened once

[wallind]

My team is also experiencing this throttling issue.

We experienced it 2026-02-12 (~3PM ET) through 2026-02-13 (~3PM ET) when it then started working again. As of 2026-02-16 (~5:30PM ET) we are now observing it throttling and busted again.

We have replicated it in the browser as the author says, across multiple team members and multiple devices that included both work and personal laptops and phones (on and off our corporate network).

This is currently crippling our Renovate implementation and we're considering excluding Python versions from dependency management updates for awhile to unblock our bot 🤸‍♂️

[matthew-carta]

Maybe related to the Django upgrade in #2741?
Only other thought is that the rate limiter settings are somehow mapping everyone's IP to a single bucket, causing a global rate limit to apply. If there's a proxy/forward header in the middle getting mis-wired, could be causing this.

[JacobCoffee]

hello,

Can you all test after the latest merge+deploy?

@matthew-carta , @wallind , @hne3m, @fleblond07

thanks!

[grantaveryatgfs]

@JacobCoffee I saw it working earlier today but now we're seeing https://www.python.org/api/v2/downloads/release/ throw 429s again:

{"detail":"Request was throttled. Expected available in 82950 seconds."}

[JacobCoffee]

i wonder if this is a holdover from the previous throttle (i think its 24hrs?)

[wallind]

and to confirm, I still see the same atm

[grantaveryatgfs]

Is there any way to reset/kill the current throttle? It looks like it just started an hour ago (probably right before your fix went in), since 82950 seconds is about 23 hours

[JacobCoffee]

Done @grantaveryatgfs , ping me if you all see this again. i'm getting clean curls

[grantaveryatgfs]

@JacobCoffee I'm seeing some of my devices loading it up fresh successfully, while others that I had been checking it on earlier today are still showing the 429, and the timer has reset. So on those devices I see "Request was throttled. Expected available in 84637 seconds.", which is almost 23.5 hours in seconds.