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Checklist · Rate Limiting

Rate Limiting Launch Checklist for 2026

Rate limiting protects your infrastructure from abuse, denial-of-service, and runaway clients. This checklist breaks the launch into foundation, execution, and verification phases, helping you avoid under-limiting (leaving you exposed) or over-limiting (blocking legitimate users). Review weekly as you ship. See [free tools](/tools) for open-source rate-limiting libraries.

9 checklist items Updated from migrated LaunchTry SEO content

Phase 01

Foundation

3 tasks
  • c1
    critical1 day

    Define goals and KPIs (Rate Limiting)

    Set concrete rate-limit targets: requests per second per user, token-bucket capacity, and burst-tolerance windows. Define what 'abuse' looks like for your API (scan rates, file uploads, search queries).

  • c2
    high2-3 days

    Identify target audience (Rate Limiting)

    Profile your legitimate users: typical request patterns, peak QPS, and seasonal spikes. Interview your top customers; their usage must not hit your limits on day one.

  • c3
    high2-3 days

    Audit current state (Rate Limiting)

    Audit existing rate-limiting: check if any limits exist in load balancers, CDN, or application code. Identify single points of failure (e.g., in-process counts that don't survive restarts).

Phase 02

Execution

3 tasks
  • c4
    critical1 day

    Prioritize high-impact tasks (Rate Limiting)

    Prioritize implementation order: global per-IP limits first, then per-user token buckets, then per-endpoint sliding windows. Avoid complex distributed algorithms until simpler ones fail.

  • c5
    critical1 day

    Assign owners and deadlines (Rate Limiting)

    Assign an on-call owner for the rate-limiting rollout. Have a runbook for emergency increases (customer with legitimate spike); don't let customers guess your limits.

  • c6
    critical1 day

    Set up tracking (Rate Limiting)

    Set up dashboards: 429 response rate, limit hit count by endpoint, and retry patterns. Alert when 429 rate exceeds threshold (e.g., > 5% of traffic).

Phase 03

Launch & Review

3 tasks
  • c7
    critical1 day

    Ship and verify (Rate Limiting)

    Roll out as shadow traffic first (log limits but don't enforce). Ship and monitor for 3-5 days; track 429 rate and customer complaints before enforcement.

  • c8
    medium1 week

    Measure against KPIs (Rate Limiting)

    Measure success: are bots slowed? Are legitimate peaks handled gracefully? Compare 429 rate pre- and post-launch.

  • c9
    medium1 week

    Iterate on results (Rate Limiting)

    Act on feedback: were limits too strict? Add per-customer exemptions. Were they too loose? Tighten the token-bucket capacity. Plan a follow-up tweak within a week.

Pro tips

  • Tackle critical items first
  • Review the checklist weekly
  • Adapt phases to your rate limiting context