diff --git a/create-db-worker/src/index.ts b/create-db-worker/src/index.ts
index f202f7c..72c5d8a 100644
--- a/create-db-worker/src/index.ts
+++ b/create-db-worker/src/index.ts
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ interface Env {
 	DELETE_DB_WORKFLOW: Workflow;
 	DELETE_STALE_WORKFLOW: Workflow;
 	CREATE_DB_RATE_LIMITER: RateLimit;
+	PROGRAMMATIC_RATE_LIMITER: RateLimit;
 	CREATE_DB_DATASET: AnalyticsEngineDataset;
 	POSTHOG_API_KEY?: string;
 	POSTHOG_API_HOST?: string;
@@ -130,6 +131,7 @@ export default {
 				name?: string;
 				analytics?: { eventName?: string; properties?: Record<string, unknown> };
 				userAgent?: string;
+				source?: 'programmatic' | 'cli';
 			};
 
 			let body: CreateDbBody = {};
@@ -140,7 +142,51 @@ export default {
 				return new Response('Invalid JSON body', { status: 400 });
 			}
 
-			const { region, name, analytics: analyticsData, userAgent } = body;
+			const { region, name, analytics: analyticsData, userAgent, source } = body;
+
+			// Apply stricter rate limiting for programmatic requests
+			if (source === 'programmatic') {
+				const programmaticKey = `programmatic:${clientIP}`;
+				try {
+					const res = await env.PROGRAMMATIC_RATE_LIMITER.limit({
+						key: programmaticKey,
+					});
+
+					if (!res.success) {
+						return new Response(
+							JSON.stringify({
+								error: 'RATE_LIMIT_EXCEEDED',
+								message: 'Rate limit exceeded for programmatic database creation. You can create up to 1 database per minute. Please try again later.',
+								rateLimitInfo: {
+									retryAfterMs: 60000, // Approximate - Cloudflare doesn't expose exact timing
+									currentCount: 1,
+									maxRequests: 1,
+								},
+							}),
+							{
+								status: 429,
+								headers: {
+									'Content-Type': 'application/json',
+									'Retry-After': '60',
+								},
+							},
+						);
+					}
+				} catch (e) {
+					console.error('Programmatic rate limiter error:', e);
+					// Fail closed for programmatic requests
+					return new Response(
+						JSON.stringify({
+							error: 'rate_limiter_error',
+							message: 'Rate limiter temporarily unavailable. Please try again later.',
+						}),
+						{
+							status: 503,
+							headers: { 'Content-Type': 'application/json' },
+						},
+					);
+				}
+			}
 			if (!region || !name) {
 				return new Response('Missing region or name in request body', { status: 400 });
 			}
diff --git a/create-db-worker/wrangler.jsonc b/create-db-worker/wrangler.jsonc
index 07913a8..dd03219 100644
--- a/create-db-worker/wrangler.jsonc
+++ b/create-db-worker/wrangler.jsonc
@@ -40,6 +40,15 @@
 					"period": 60,
 				},
 			},
+			{
+				"name": "PROGRAMMATIC_RATE_LIMITER",
+				"type": "ratelimit",
+				"namespace_id": "1006",
+				"simple": {
+					"limit": 5,
+					"period": 60,
+				},
+			},
 		],
 	},
 }
diff --git a/create-db/src/database.ts b/create-db/src/database.ts
index 8c21252..904b1ee 100644
--- a/create-db/src/database.ts
+++ b/create-db/src/database.ts
@@ -14,7 +14,8 @@ export async function createDatabaseCore(
   createDbWorkerUrl: string,
   claimDbWorkerUrl: string,
   userAgent?: string,
-  cliRunId?: string
+  cliRunId?: string,
+  source?: "programmatic" | "cli"
 ): Promise<CreateDatabaseResult> {
   const name = new Date().toISOString();
   const runId = cliRunId ?? randomUUID();
@@ -27,6 +28,7 @@ export async function createDatabaseCore(
       name,
       utm_source: getCommandName(),
       userAgent,
+      source: source || "cli",
     }),
   });
 
@@ -37,6 +39,23 @@ export async function createDatabaseCore(
       runId,
       createDbWorkerUrl
     );
+
+    // Try to parse the rate limit response from the server
+    try {
+      const errorData = await resp.json();
+      if (errorData.error === "RATE_LIMIT_EXCEEDED" && errorData.rateLimitInfo) {
+        return {
+          success: false,
+          error: "RATE_LIMIT_EXCEEDED",
+          message: errorData.message,
+          rateLimitInfo: errorData.rateLimitInfo,
+          status: 429,
+        };
+      }
+    } catch {
+      // If parsing fails, fall through to generic message
+    }
+
     return {
       success: false,
       error: "rate_limit_exceeded",
diff --git a/create-db/src/index.ts b/create-db/src/index.ts
index d9f3aee..baed48d 100644
--- a/create-db/src/index.ts
+++ b/create-db/src/index.ts
@@ -77,14 +77,16 @@ const validateRegionWithUrl = (region: string) =>
 const createDatabaseCoreWithUrl = (
   region: string,
   userAgent?: string,
-  cliRunId?: string
+  cliRunId?: string,
+  source?: "programmatic" | "cli"
 ) =>
   createDatabaseCore(
     region,
     CREATE_DB_WORKER_URL,
     CLAIM_DB_WORKER_URL,
     userAgent,
-    cliRunId
+    cliRunId,
+    source
   );
 
 const router = os.router({
@@ -392,7 +394,9 @@ export async function create(
 ): Promise<CreateDatabaseResult> {
   return createDatabaseCoreWithUrl(
     options?.region || "us-east-1",
-    options?.userAgent
+    options?.userAgent,
+    undefined,
+    "programmatic"
   );
 }
 
diff --git a/create-db/src/types.ts b/create-db/src/types.ts
index 3654c0f..b8a6a08 100644
--- a/create-db/src/types.ts
+++ b/create-db/src/types.ts
@@ -54,6 +54,11 @@ export interface DatabaseError {
   raw?: string;
   details?: unknown;
   status?: number;
+  rateLimitInfo?: {
+    retryAfterMs: number;
+    currentCount: number;
+    maxRequests: number;
+  };
 }
 
 export type CreateDatabaseResult = DatabaseResult | DatabaseError;