Definition
Rate Limiting
Restricting how many requests a user or IP address can make to your application within a given time window.
Rate limiting is a defensive technique that prevents abuse by capping the number of requests a client can make to an API or web application. Without rate limiting, attackers can brute-force login pages, scrape your data, drain paid API credits, or overwhelm your server with traffic (DDoS). Implementation typically involves tracking requests per IP or API key using an in-memory store like Redis, and returning HTTP 429 (Too Many Requests) when limits are exceeded. Rate limiting is essential for any production API but is almost never present in AI-generated code.
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