Custom Rate Limiting - Modelence

Modelence provides a built-in rate limiting system you can use to protect any mutation or query from abuse. Authentication endpoints come with their own default limits.

Defining Rate Limits

You can define your own rate limits by adding a rateLimits array to a Module. Each rule specifies a bucket name, the type of actor being limited (ip or user), a time window, and a maximum number of allowed calls within that window.

import { Module } from 'modelence/server';
import { time } from 'modelence';

const myModule = new Module('myFeature', {
  rateLimits: [
    {
      bucket: 'myAction',
      type: 'ip',
      window: time.minutes(15),  // 15-minute window
      limit: 10,                 // max 10 calls per window
    },
  ],
  // ...
});

Multiple rules can share the same bucket to enforce more than one window. All rules on a bucket are checked — if any one is exceeded, the call is rejected:

rateLimits: [
  { bucket: 'myAction', type: 'ip', window: time.minutes(1),  limit: 3  },  // 3 per minute
  { bucket: 'myAction', type: 'ip', window: time.hours(1),    limit: 20 },  // 20 per hour
  { bucket: 'myAction', type: 'ip', window: time.days(1),     limit: 100 }, // 100 per day
],

Consuming a Rate Limit

Call consumeRateLimit inside a mutation or query handler to check and increment the rate limit counter. It throws a RateLimitError automatically when any matching rule is exceeded:

import { consumeRateLimit } from 'modelence/server';

// Inside a mutation handler:
async function handleMyAction(args, { connectionInfo }) {
  await consumeRateLimit({
    bucket: 'myAction',
    type: 'ip',
    value: connectionInfo.ip,
  });

  // ... proceed with the action
}

An optional message parameter lets you provide a user-facing error message instead of the default:

await consumeRateLimit({
  bucket: 'myAction',
  type: 'ip',
  value: connectionInfo.ip,
  message: 'Too many requests. Please wait a moment and try again.',
});

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