Performance

Token bucket

Rate limiter that accumulates tokens at a fixed rate.

In plain terms

Allows bursts up to bucket size, smooth rate at long term. Default for most rate limits in cloud APIs.

Origin

Originally ATM cell-rate specification. Generic now — every cloud rate limiter, every CDN, every API gateway implements it.

Where it shows up in production

Stripe, GitHub, AWS APIs All use token-bucket variants; bursts allowed up to bucket size, average rate stable.
tc (Linux traffic control) TBF queueing discipline shapes outgoing traffic with token bucket semantics.

On Semicolony

Sources & further reading

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