Implementing Rate Limiting with Fast API

Are you interested in implementing rate limiting in your code? Well, you're in luck because today, we're going to talk about implementing rate limiting with FastAPI!

First, let's start by defining what rate limiting is. Rate Limiting is a technique used to control the rate of requests made to a web application or API. It prevents excessive traffic by limiting the number of requests that can be made from a given IP address or username.

Required Libraries

Before we dive into the code, let's quickly go over the required libraries needed for this implementation:

• Uvicorn
• FastAPI

It's best to install these libraries within a virtual environment to avoid any conflicts with other existing libraries.

The Code

Now that we have our libraries installed, let's take a look at the code. You can find the code on my Patreon page or you can copy it from the video.

Initial Set-up

We start the code by defining an empty list for our calls. Then, we check if a call has been made in the last 60 seconds (or whatever time frame you choose) using the time module. If the length of the list exceeds our maximum calls, we raise an exception.

Memory Persistence

It's important to note that this implementation is not memory persistent. If the server is shut down or restarted, the list will reset. To make the rate limiting persistent, it's recommended to store it in a database or a different storage solution.

Testing the Code

After running the code, accessing the website will give us a "Hello World" greeting. However, if you try to make more than the maximum allowed calls in the given time frame, you'll receive a "rate limit exceeded" message.

Future Expansion

If you're interested in seeing more videos like this, leave a comment and let me know! There are a lot of additional features that can be added to this implementation, such as persistent storage and custom error messages.

Conclusion

And there you have it, a quick and simple implementation of rate limiting with FastAPI. Hopefully, you found this helpful, and feel free to leave a comment if you have any further questions! Thanks for watching.