What happens if a third-party API goes down?

A well-built integration degrades gracefully with fallback behavior, rather than breaking the whole page or workflow.

Should API keys ever be exposed client-side?

No — sensitive keys should stay server-side, proxied through your own backend when the client needs the data.

How do I handle API rate limits?

Cache responses where appropriate and implement backoff logic to avoid hitting limits during traffic spikes.

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API Integration Guide

August 6, 2026 · 8 min read

Executive summary

Good API integration plans for failure as much as success — rate limits, downtime and unexpected responses all need a defined fallback, not a crashed page.

The direct answer

Reliable API integration means keeping sensitive keys server-side, handling errors and rate limits gracefully, caching responses where appropriate, and testing against realistic failure scenarios — not just the happy path where everything responds instantly and correctly.

Step-by-step

Common mistakes

Frequently asked questions

Key takeaways

Sensitive API keys should always stay server-side.
Plan for failure with graceful fallbacks, not silent crashes.
Caching and backoff logic protect against rate limits under load.

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API Integration Guide

The direct answer

Step-by-step

Common mistakes

Frequently asked questions

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