Access-code 429 versus API rate limit

After five incorrect access-code tries the signing page locks: Too many incorrect access codes. Try again in 15 minutes. Unlock returns HTTP 429 with locked: true and retryAt. The same optional Web Form PIN uses the same five-try, 15-minute lockout. That is pin-429 honesty: the status is a PIN lockout, /api/v1 does not return HTTP 429 for send volume, and there is no desk control that unlocks a signer early.

Waiting out the window is access-code lockout recovery. When to set the code is when to require an access code. The send-volume gate is the Free plan 5-packet cap. Desk help splits the pair: Docs and Docs. This guide is how to tell the 429 from a missing rate-limit header.

The FAQ says Inkpacket stores only a hash. Features lists the PIN under access codes. Ask Inkpacket for access-code 429 versus API rate limit to open this article. Ask what does 429 PIN lockout mean to open help. Ask 429 or rate limit to open Settings #api. Those phrases stay on the product screens. This article is the public version of which lock you just hit.

Which 429 you hit

• Signer or Web Form unlock after five misses — PIN lockout 429. Wait 15 minutes. The failure count clears when the lockout ends, or when the correct code is entered.
• A gated Web Form fill after the same five misses — the same PIN 429, not Form closed.
• POST /api/v1/packets/:id/send at the monthly cap — HTTP 402 ENVELOPE_LIMIT. Not 429. Not Retry-After.
• A missing or revoked Bearer token — 401. Not a lockout.

Each API token allows 120 requests per minute per token. Over that limit, /api/v1 returns HTTP 429 with a Retry-After header. Inkpacket does not send X-RateLimit headers. HTTP 429 on /api/v1 means the token exceeded 120 requests in a minute. The send guard is the workspace monthly packet limit. Access-code 429 is a different door on a different URL. Do not mint a twin envelope because someone mistyped the PIN. Do not open Billing to “raise the rate limit.” Checkout is not open and does not sell a throttle.

What the lockout is not

• Not a void. The envelope stays SENT. The token still exists.
• Not Invite email was not sent. Mail skip is a copy-link problem.
• Not a text. Text-message (SMS) is coming soon. Reminders go out by email today.
• Not a seat-cap HTTP status. Invite does not refuse when a workspace is full.

Share the code separately from the signing link — it is not in the invite email. Inkpacket stores only a hash, never the plaintext. Changing a Web Form access code resets that form’s failure count. There is still no early-unlock button on an envelope PIN. When to set a Web Form access code is the slug-side PIN. Copy the signing link after mail skips is what you send alongside that code when Resend is missing.

The click-path

1. If unlock says Too many incorrect access codes, wait 15 minutes. Try the same code again.
2. If send or fill says ENVELOPE_LIMIT, stop creating envelopes. Wait for the next UTC month.
3. If Settings #api is what you opened because you typed 429, read the send-cap card — then come back here if the signer is locked.
4. Do not correct the recipient to “reset the PIN.” Correct retires a token when the email changes; it is not a lockout clear.
5. Do not open Checkout. Checkout does not sell attempts or a month.

On a phone, Settings and Documents are drawer rows. Ask Inkpacket for settings on mobile or documents on mobile to open the screen. Help is Docs. Members can send a gated envelope. They cannot mint API tokens. Those are still two products that happen to share a three-digit status on different routes.

Caps and what is not open yet

A PIN try is not a send. The send that created the envelope already counted. Free allows 5 packets a month. Free at 5 packets a month is the live cap desk send, bulk rows, Web Form fills, and API send share. Hitting it returns HTTP 402 ENVELOPE_LIMIT. Starter is 20 envelopes — more than Free — plus 3 published Web Forms. Seat counts are planning numbers; invite does not refuse when a workspace is full.

Billing is published, not charging. Checkout is not open. Text-message (SMS) is coming soon. Drive missing: Drive not configured. Stripe off: Payments not live. Those flags do not return Retry-After or unlock a signer early. The FAQ and More on access codes use PIN lockout, not a public API traffic rate limit in the same words.

Wait out the PIN. Treat 402 as the month. File the envelope when they get the code right. Open a workspace on Free — see published pricing — and lock one throwaway so pin-429 honesty is a 15-minute clock you have already watched, not a throttle you asked Settings to raise.