I’ve learned something a bit precarious about the Itch desktop app. If you install an item (i.e. any downloadable macguffin thing from inside the app when you click “Install”) there’s a chance the file(s) included with that item will update without a visible change in version number or something like that.
Itch runs a check on items that (may) have updated, but either a check is not being put in place to see if the item is newer than the already installed item, or there’s too aggressive a check, and it’s claiming items you have installed need to be updated when in fact nothing changed.
This is mostly a problem when it comes to asset packs I’ve found, and some games if the author does not have a version number system in place.
Because these accumulate over time (duplicate update notices), the HTTP requests increase as well, leading to 429 errors. This can also be due to having way too many items installed but the former is more likely if you don’t realize what you’re doing.
I’m not an experienced developer, nor do I really know how Itch app works. This is mostly just observation.
The takeaway however is being more careful about what you install using the Itch app in its current state.