The 'reached API rate limit' error on GitHub typically occurs when the maximum number of API requests is exceeded within a set time, especially for unauthenticated requests limited to 60 per hour. To avoid this, consider using authenticated requests by generating a personal access token from *Settings > Developer settings > Personal access tokens*. Using an access token raises the limit to 5,000 requests per hour for most repositories. If you’re performing automated requests, implement rate-limiting logic in your application to pause after reaching a certain number of requests. If limits are still exceeded, you may need to wait for an hour before trying again. For higher access needs, consider contacting GitHub support or looking into GitHub’s Enterprise solutions, which offer increased API limits.