Rate Limiter

Definitions

1. A mechanism that controls the rate of requests a client can make to a service within a time window. Common algorithms include token bucket, sliding window, and leaky bucket. Essential for protecting APIs from abuse and ensuring fair usage.

   In plain English: A bouncer for your API that only lets a certain number of requests through per second to prevent overload.

   Example: "We set the rate limiter to 100 requests per minute per API key — burst traffic gets a 429 Too Many Requests response."

Related Terms

• Allocator
• Big-O
• Protocol Buffers
• Intersection Observer
• Pagination
• Rate Limiting Algorithm
• API Key vs Token
• Evil Regex
• CodeQL