Rate Limiting APIs

Overview

Implement sophisticated rate limiting using sliding window, token bucket, and fixed window counter algorithms with Redis-backed distributed state. Configure per-endpoint, per-user, and per-API-key limits with tiered quotas, burst allowances, and standard response headers that communicate limit status to API consumers.

Prerequisites

• Redis 6+ for distributed rate limit state (required for multi-instance deployments)
• Rate limiting library: rate-limiter-flexible (Node.js), slowapi (Python/FastAPI), or Bucket4j (Java)
• API key or user identification mechanism for per-consumer tracking
• Monitoring for rate limit hit rates and rejected request metrics
• Documentation system for publishing rate limit policies to API consumers

Instructions