diff --git a/backend/src/main/java/de/otto/platform/gitactionboard/adapters/service/GithubApiService.java b/backend/src/main/java/de/otto/platform/gitactionboard/adapters/service/GithubApiService.java
index af658bb1..e9893f83 100644
--- a/backend/src/main/java/de/otto/platform/gitactionboard/adapters/service/GithubApiService.java
+++ b/backend/src/main/java/de/otto/platform/gitactionboard/adapters/service/GithubApiService.java
@@ -1,18 +1,29 @@
 package de.otto.platform.gitactionboard.adapters.service;
 
 import static org.springframework.http.HttpHeaders.AUTHORIZATION;
+import static org.springframework.http.HttpStatus.FORBIDDEN;
+import static org.springframework.http.HttpStatus.TOO_MANY_REQUESTS;
 
+import java.time.Duration;
+import java.time.Instant;
 import java.util.Optional;
+import java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicReference;
 import lombok.extern.slf4j.Slf4j;
 import org.springframework.beans.factory.annotation.Qualifier;
+import org.springframework.http.HttpHeaders;
 import org.springframework.stereotype.Service;
+import org.springframework.web.client.HttpClientErrorException;
 import org.springframework.web.client.RestClient;
 
 @Slf4j
 @Service
 public class GithubApiService {
+  private static final String RATE_LIMIT_REMAINING_HEADER = "x-ratelimit-remaining";
+  private static final String RATE_LIMIT_RESET_HEADER = "x-ratelimit-reset";
+
   private final String authToken;
   private final RestClient.Builder restClientBuilder;
+  private final AtomicReference<Instant> rateLimitResetAt = new AtomicReference<>(Instant.EPOCH);
 
   public GithubApiService(
       @Qualifier("domainName") String baseUri,
@@ -34,6 +45,60 @@ private RestClient getRestClient(String accessToken) {
   }
 
   public <T> T getForObject(String url, String accessToken, Class<T> responseType) {
-    return getRestClient(accessToken).get().uri(url).retrieve().body(responseType);
+    final RestClient restClient = getRestClient(accessToken);
+
+    // Another request may already have tripped the GitHub rate limit; hold off until it resets.
+    waitUntilRateLimitResets();
+
+    try {
+      return restClient.get().uri(url).retrieve().body(responseType);
+    } catch (HttpClientErrorException exception) {
+      if (!isRateLimited(exception)) {
+        throw exception;
+      }
+
+      rememberRateLimitReset(exception);
+      waitUntilRateLimitResets();
+
+      // Retry once now that the window has reset; any further failure propagates to the caller.
+      return restClient.get().uri(url).retrieve().body(responseType);
+    }
+  }
+
+  private static boolean isRateLimited(HttpClientErrorException exception) {
+    final boolean rateLimitStatus =
+        FORBIDDEN.equals(exception.getStatusCode())
+            || TOO_MANY_REQUESTS.equals(exception.getStatusCode());
+    final HttpHeaders headers = exception.getResponseHeaders();
+    return rateLimitStatus
+        && headers != null
+        && "0".equals(headers.getFirst(RATE_LIMIT_REMAINING_HEADER));
+  }
+
+  private void rememberRateLimitReset(HttpClientErrorException exception) {
+    final HttpHeaders headers = exception.getResponseHeaders();
+    final String resetEpochSeconds =
+        headers == null ? null : headers.getFirst(RATE_LIMIT_RESET_HEADER);
+    if (resetEpochSeconds == null) {
+      return;
+    }
+    final Instant resetAt = Instant.ofEpochSecond(Long.parseLong(resetEpochSeconds));
+    rateLimitResetAt.accumulateAndGet(
+        resetAt, (current, candidate) -> candidate.isAfter(current) ? candidate : current);
+  }
+
+  private void waitUntilRateLimitResets() {
+    final Duration waitFor = Duration.between(Instant.now(), rateLimitResetAt.get());
+    if (waitFor.isZero() || waitFor.isNegative()) {
+      return;
+    }
+    log.warn("GitHub rate limit hit; waiting {}s until reset", waitFor.toSeconds());
+    try {
+      Thread.sleep(waitFor.toMillis());
+    } catch (InterruptedException interruptedException) {
+      Thread.currentThread().interrupt();
+      throw new IllegalStateException(
+          "Interrupted while waiting for GitHub rate limit to reset", interruptedException);
+    }
   }
 }
diff --git a/backend/src/test/java/de/otto/platform/gitactionboard/adapters/service/GithubApiServiceTest.java b/backend/src/test/java/de/otto/platform/gitactionboard/adapters/service/GithubApiServiceTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..b29c5db3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/backend/src/test/java/de/otto/platform/gitactionboard/adapters/service/GithubApiServiceTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,67 @@
+package de.otto.platform.gitactionboard.adapters.service;
+
+import static org.assertj.core.api.Assertions.assertThat;
+import static org.mockserver.matchers.Times.once;
+import static org.mockserver.model.HttpRequest.request;
+import static org.mockserver.model.HttpResponse.response;
+import static org.mockserver.verify.VerificationTimes.exactly;
+
+import de.otto.platform.gitactionboard.IntegrationTest;
+import de.otto.platform.gitactionboard.Sequential;
+import java.time.Instant;
+import org.junit.jupiter.api.AfterEach;
+import org.junit.jupiter.api.BeforeEach;
+import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
+import org.mockserver.integration.ClientAndServer;
+import org.springframework.web.client.RestClient;
+
+@IntegrationTest
+@Sequential
+class GithubApiServiceTest {
+  private static final String OWNER = "johndoe";
+  private static final String PATH = "/hello-world/branches";
+  private static final String FULL_PATH = "/repos/%s%s".formatted(OWNER, PATH);
+  private static final String ACCESS_TOKEN = "accessToken";
+  private static final String RESPONSE_BODY = "{\"ok\":true}";
+
+  private ClientAndServer mockServer;
+  private GithubApiService githubApiService;
+
+  @BeforeEach
+  void setUp() {
+    mockServer = ClientAndServer.startClientAndServer();
+    githubApiService =
+        new GithubApiService(
+            "http://localhost:%d".formatted(mockServer.getPort()),
+            OWNER,
+            "defaultToken",
+            RestClient.builder());
+  }
+
+  @AfterEach
+  void tearDown() {
+    mockServer.stop();
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  void shouldWaitForRateLimitToResetAndThenRetryTheRequest() {
+    // First call is rate limited; reset ~1s in the future.
+    mockServer
+        .when(request().withMethod("GET").withPath(FULL_PATH), once())
+        .respond(
+            response()
+                .withStatusCode(403)
+                .withHeader("x-ratelimit-remaining", "0")
+                .withHeader("x-ratelimit-reset", String.valueOf(Instant.now().getEpochSecond() + 1)));
+
+    // Second call (after the wait) succeeds.
+    mockServer
+        .when(request().withMethod("GET").withPath(FULL_PATH))
+        .respond(response().withStatusCode(200).withBody(RESPONSE_BODY));
+
+    final String body = githubApiService.getForObject(PATH, ACCESS_TOKEN, String.class);
+
+    assertThat(body).isEqualTo(RESPONSE_BODY);
+    mockServer.verify(request().withMethod("GET").withPath(FULL_PATH), exactly(2));
+  }
+}