[Bug]: 429 Too Many Requests responses when matching books using Open Library #3229

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opened 2026-02-20 11:01:37 -05:00 by deekerman · 0 comments

deekerman commented

2026-02-20 11:01:37 -05:00

Owner

Originally created by @joren485 on GitHub (Feb 9, 2026).

What happened?

When matching books with titles consisting of a single word or common word pairs on Open Library, the number of returned books is too high, which generates too many requests, resulting in 429 Too Many Requests responses from Open Library.

What did you expect to happen?

When matching a book on Open Library, the server returns a list of likely matches.

Steps to reproduce the issue

Add the book Focus: The ASML Way by Marc Hijink
Match it using Open Library
This will result in a search using only the word "Focus": https://openlibrary.org/search.json?title=Focus
For each of the 13k+ results, the server will try to fetch more information
Eventually, Open Library will respond with 429s
No matches are found

Audiobookshelf version

v2.32.1

How are you running audiobookshelf?

Docker

What OS is your Audiobookshelf server hosted from?

Linux

If the issue is being seen in the UI, what browsers are you seeing the problem on?

None

Logs

[2026-02-09 22:06:41.366] DEBUG: Book Search: title: "focus", author: "", provider: openlibrary
Failed Request failed with status code 429
Failed Request failed with status code 429
Failed Request failed with status code 429
Failed Request failed with status code 429
Failed Request failed with status code 429
...
Failed timeout of 10000ms exceeded
Failed timeout of 10000ms exceeded

Originally created by @joren485 on GitHub (Feb 9, 2026). ### What happened? When matching books with titles consisting of a single word or common word pairs on Open Library, the number of returned books is too high, which generates too many requests, resulting in 429 Too Many Requests responses from Open Library. ### What did you expect to happen? When matching a book on Open Library, the server returns a list of likely matches. ### Steps to reproduce the issue 1. Add the book [Focus: The ASML Way by Marc Hijink](https://openlibrary.org/books/OL53271665M/Focus_The_ASML_Way) 2. Match it using Open Library 3. This will result in a search using only the word "Focus": `https://openlibrary.org/search.json?title=Focus` 4. For each of the 13k+ results, the server will try to fetch more information 5. Eventually, Open Library will respond with 429s 6. No matches are found ### Audiobookshelf version v2.32.1 ### How are you running audiobookshelf? Docker ### What OS is your Audiobookshelf server hosted from? Linux ### If the issue is being seen in the UI, what browsers are you seeing the problem on? None ### Logs ```shell [2026-02-09 22:06:41.366] DEBUG: Book Search: title: "focus", author: "", provider: openlibrary Failed Request failed with status code 429 Failed Request failed with status code 429 Failed Request failed with status code 429 Failed Request failed with status code 429 Failed Request failed with status code 429 ... Failed timeout of 10000ms exceeded Failed timeout of 10000ms exceeded ```