diff --git a/.github/gallery-agent/main.go b/.github/gallery-agent/main.go
index d9c6449f7..57431a672 100644
--- a/.github/gallery-agent/main.go
+++ b/.github/gallery-agent/main.go
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ package main
 import (
 	"context"
 	"encoding/json"
+	"errors"
 	"fmt"
 	"os"
 	"strconv"
@@ -113,6 +114,17 @@ func main() {
 	fmt.Println("Searching for trending models on HuggingFace...")
 	rawModels, err := client.GetTrending(searchTerm, limit)
 	if err != nil {
+		if errors.Is(err, hfapi.ErrRateLimited) {
+			fmt.Printf("HuggingFace API is rate limited after retries, skipping this run: %v\n", err)
+			writeSummary(AddedModelSummary{
+				SearchTerm:     searchTerm,
+				TotalFound:     0,
+				ModelsAdded:    0,
+				Quantization:   quantization,
+				ProcessingTime: time.Since(startTime).String(),
+			})
+			return
+		}
 		fmt.Fprintf(os.Stderr, "Error fetching models: %v\n", err)
 		os.Exit(1)
 	}
@@ -277,4 +289,3 @@ func truncateString(s string, maxLen int) string {
 	}
 	return s[:maxLen] + "..."
 }
-
diff --git a/pkg/huggingface-api/client.go b/pkg/huggingface-api/client.go
index 840dcf90c..175c38574 100644
--- a/pkg/huggingface-api/client.go
+++ b/pkg/huggingface-api/client.go
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ package hfapi
 
 import (
 	"encoding/json"
+	"errors"
 	"fmt"
 	"io"
 	"net/http"
@@ -10,6 +11,7 @@ import (
 	"sort"
 	"strconv"
 	"strings"
+	"time"
 
 	"github.com/mudler/LocalAI/pkg/httpclient"
 )
@@ -88,57 +90,128 @@ type SearchParams struct {
 
 // Client represents a Hugging Face API client
 type Client struct {
-	baseURL string
-	client  *http.Client
+	baseURL      string
+	client       *http.Client
+	maxRetries   int
+	retryBackoff time.Duration
+	maxBackoff   time.Duration
+	sleepFn      func(time.Duration)
 }
 
+var ErrRateLimited = errors.New("huggingface API rate limited")
+
 // NewClient creates a new Hugging Face API client
 func NewClient() *Client {
 	return &Client{
-		baseURL: "https://huggingface.co/api/models",
-		client:  httpclient.New(httpclient.WithFollowRedirects()),
+		baseURL:      "https://huggingface.co/api/models",
+		client:       httpclient.New(httpclient.WithFollowRedirects()),
+		maxRetries:   5,
+		retryBackoff: 1 * time.Second,
+		maxBackoff:   30 * time.Second,
+		sleepFn:      time.Sleep,
 	}
 }
 
 // SearchModels searches for models using the Hugging Face API
 func (c *Client) SearchModels(params SearchParams) ([]Model, error) {
-	req, err := http.NewRequest("GET", c.baseURL, nil)
-	if err != nil {
-		return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to create request: %w", err)
+	for attempt := 1; attempt <= c.maxRetries; attempt++ {
+		req, err := http.NewRequest("GET", c.baseURL, nil)
+		if err != nil {
+			return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to create request: %w", err)
+		}
+
+		// Add query parameters
+		q := req.URL.Query()
+		q.Add("sort", params.Sort)
+		q.Add("direction", fmt.Sprintf("%d", params.Direction))
+		q.Add("limit", fmt.Sprintf("%d", params.Limit))
+		q.Add("search", params.Search)
+		req.URL.RawQuery = q.Encode()
+
+		resp, err := c.client.Do(req)
+		if err != nil {
+			if attempt < c.maxRetries {
+				c.sleepFn(c.exponentialBackoff(attempt))
+				continue
+			}
+			return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to make request: %w", err)
+		}
+
+		if resp.StatusCode != http.StatusOK {
+			if err := resp.Body.Close(); err != nil {
+				return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to close response body: %w", err)
+			}
+			if c.isRetryableStatus(resp.StatusCode) && attempt < c.maxRetries {
+				c.sleepFn(c.retryDelay(resp, attempt))
+				continue
+			}
+			if resp.StatusCode == http.StatusTooManyRequests {
+				return nil, fmt.Errorf("%w: failed to fetch models. Status code: %d", ErrRateLimited, resp.StatusCode)
+			}
+			return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to fetch models. Status code: %d", resp.StatusCode)
+		}
+
+		// Read the response body
+		body, err := io.ReadAll(resp.Body)
+		closeErr := resp.Body.Close()
+		if err != nil {
+			return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to read response body: %w", err)
+		}
+		if closeErr != nil {
+			return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to close response body: %w", closeErr)
+		}
+
+		// Parse the JSON response
+		var models []Model
+		if err := json.Unmarshal(body, &models); err != nil {
+			return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to parse JSON response: %w", err)
+		}
+
+		return models, nil
 	}
 
-	// Add query parameters
-	q := req.URL.Query()
-	q.Add("sort", params.Sort)
-	q.Add("direction", fmt.Sprintf("%d", params.Direction))
-	q.Add("limit", fmt.Sprintf("%d", params.Limit))
-	q.Add("search", params.Search)
-	req.URL.RawQuery = q.Encode()
+	return nil, fmt.Errorf("%w: failed to fetch models. Status code: %d", ErrRateLimited, http.StatusTooManyRequests)
+}
 
-	// Make the HTTP request
-	resp, err := c.client.Do(req)
-	if err != nil {
-		return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to make request: %w", err)
-	}
-	defer resp.Body.Close()
+func (c *Client) isRetryableStatus(code int) bool {
+	return code == http.StatusTooManyRequests || (code >= http.StatusInternalServerError && code <= http.StatusNetworkAuthenticationRequired)
+}
 
-	if resp.StatusCode != http.StatusOK {
-		return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to fetch models. Status code: %d", resp.StatusCode)
+func (c *Client) retryDelay(resp *http.Response, attempt int) time.Duration {
+	if retryAfter := strings.TrimSpace(resp.Header.Get("Retry-After")); retryAfter != "" {
+		if seconds, err := strconv.Atoi(retryAfter); err == nil && seconds > 0 {
+			delay := time.Duration(seconds) * time.Second
+			if delay > c.maxBackoff {
+				return c.maxBackoff
+			}
+			return delay
+		}
+		if at, err := http.ParseTime(retryAfter); err == nil {
+			delay := time.Until(at)
+			if delay > 0 {
+				if delay > c.maxBackoff {
+					return c.maxBackoff
+				}
+				return delay
+			}
+		}
 	}
 
-	// Read the response body
-	body, err := io.ReadAll(resp.Body)
-	if err != nil {
-		return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to read response body: %w", err)
-	}
+	return c.exponentialBackoff(attempt)
+}
 
-	// Parse the JSON response
-	var models []Model
-	if err := json.Unmarshal(body, &models); err != nil {
-		return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to parse JSON response: %w", err)
+func (c *Client) exponentialBackoff(attempt int) time.Duration {
+	delay := c.retryBackoff
+	for i := 1; i < attempt; i++ {
+		delay *= 2
+		if delay >= c.maxBackoff {
+			return c.maxBackoff
+		}
 	}
-
-	return models, nil
+	if delay > c.maxBackoff {
+		return c.maxBackoff
+	}
+	return delay
 }
 
 // GetLatest fetches the latest GGUF models
diff --git a/pkg/huggingface-api/client_test.go b/pkg/huggingface-api/client_test.go
index b90df571f..feac4dba3 100644
--- a/pkg/huggingface-api/client_test.go
+++ b/pkg/huggingface-api/client_test.go
@@ -1,10 +1,12 @@
 package hfapi_test
 
 import (
+	"errors"
 	"fmt"
 	"net/http"
 	"net/http/httptest"
 	"strings"
+	"time"
 
 	. "github.com/onsi/ginkgo/v2"
 	. "github.com/onsi/gomega"
@@ -185,6 +187,87 @@ var _ = Describe("HuggingFace API Client", func() {
 			Expect(err.Error()).To(ContainSubstring("failed to parse JSON response"))
 			Expect(models).To(BeNil())
 		})
+
+		It("should retry 429 responses and honor Retry-After", func() {
+			attempts := 0
+			server = httptest.NewServer(http.HandlerFunc(func(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
+				attempts++
+				if attempts == 1 {
+					w.Header().Set("Retry-After", "1")
+					w.WriteHeader(http.StatusTooManyRequests)
+					return
+				}
+				w.Header().Set("Content-Type", "application/json")
+				w.WriteHeader(http.StatusOK)
+				_, err := w.Write([]byte("[]"))
+				Expect(err).ToNot(HaveOccurred())
+			}))
+			client.SetBaseURL(server.URL)
+
+			params := hfapi.SearchParams{
+				Sort:      "lastModified",
+				Direction: -1,
+				Limit:     30,
+				Search:    "GGUF",
+			}
+
+			start := time.Now()
+			models, err := client.SearchModels(params)
+			elapsed := time.Since(start)
+
+			Expect(err).ToNot(HaveOccurred())
+			Expect(models).To(HaveLen(0))
+			Expect(attempts).To(Equal(2))
+			Expect(elapsed).To(BeNumerically(">=", 900*time.Millisecond))
+		})
+
+		It("should fail fast on non-retryable 4xx responses", func() {
+			attempts := 0
+			server = httptest.NewServer(http.HandlerFunc(func(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
+				attempts++
+				w.WriteHeader(http.StatusBadRequest)
+			}))
+			client.SetBaseURL(server.URL)
+
+			params := hfapi.SearchParams{
+				Sort:      "lastModified",
+				Direction: -1,
+				Limit:     30,
+				Search:    "GGUF",
+			}
+
+			start := time.Now()
+			models, err := client.SearchModels(params)
+			elapsed := time.Since(start)
+
+			Expect(err).To(HaveOccurred())
+			Expect(err.Error()).To(ContainSubstring("Status code: 400"))
+			Expect(models).To(BeNil())
+			Expect(attempts).To(Equal(1))
+			Expect(elapsed).To(BeNumerically("<", 500*time.Millisecond))
+		})
+
+		It("should return ErrRateLimited when 429 persists after retries", func() {
+			server = httptest.NewServer(http.HandlerFunc(func(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
+				w.Header().Set("Retry-After", "1")
+				w.WriteHeader(http.StatusTooManyRequests)
+			}))
+			client.SetBaseURL(server.URL)
+
+			params := hfapi.SearchParams{
+				Sort:      "trendingScore",
+				Direction: -1,
+				Limit:     15,
+				Search:    "GGUF",
+			}
+
+			models, err := client.SearchModels(params)
+
+			Expect(err).To(HaveOccurred())
+			Expect(errors.Is(err, hfapi.ErrRateLimited)).To(BeTrue())
+			Expect(err.Error()).To(ContainSubstring("Status code: 429"))
+			Expect(models).To(BeNil())
+		})
 	})
 
 	Context("when getting latest GGUF models", func() {