API Rate Limiting

About

The API Rate Limiting skill provides developers with production-ready patterns to protect backend services from Denial-of-Service (DoS) attacks and resource exhaustion. It offers specialized implementation logic for various algorithms including Token Bucket and Sliding Window, along with configurations for Express.js middleware and Redis-based distributed limiting. This skill is essential for developers building public-facing APIs, managing tiered subscription models, or ensuring high availability by gracefully handling traffic spikes and enforcing per-user quotas.

Key Features

• Implementation patterns for Token Bucket and Sliding Window algorithms
• Standardized API response headers for limit tracking and retries
• Redis-based distributed rate limiting for scalable architectures
• 21 GitHub stars
• Tiered access structures for Free, Pro, and Enterprise plans
• Pre-configured Express.js rate-limiting middleware templates

Use Cases

• Preventing backend service degradation during high traffic bursts
• Enforcing usage quotas for different customer subscription tiers
• Securing public API endpoints from brute-force and DoS attacks