specification: API Commons Rate Limits
specificationVersion: '0.1'
schema: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/interface-research/main/schema/api-commons.yml#/$defs/RateLimits
provider: Envoy Proxy
providerId: envoy-proxy
created: '2026-05-04'
# Provenance stamped 2026-08-11: this artifact was written by the API Evangelist
# bulk sweep dated 2026-05-04, not harvested from the provider. See roadmap#35.
method: generated
modified: '2026-05-05'
reconciled: false
tags:
  - Rate Limiting
  - Gateways
  - Proxies
  - Service Mesh
  - Open Source
description: Envoy Proxy is self-hosted open-source software, so there is no upstream "service" rate
  limit to publish. Envoy itself implements rate limiting as a feature (local and global rate-limit filters,
  the gRPC Rate Limit Service), and the operator chooses the limits they want to enforce on their own
  traffic. The numbers below are not platform-imposed quotas; they describe Envoy's own rate-limit machinery
  and the response codes it emits when configured.
sources:
  - https://www.envoyproxy.io/docs/envoy/latest/configuration/http/http_filters/rate_limit_filter
  - https://www.envoyproxy.io/docs/envoy/latest/configuration/http/http_filters/local_rate_limit_filter
notes: Envoy is open-source infrastructure; limits are operator-defined. This file documents Envoy's
  configurable rate-limit features rather than a platform pricing tier.
responseCodes:
  throttled: 429
  serviceUnavailable: 503
limits:
  - name: Operator-configured global rate limit
    scope: descriptor
    metric: varies
    limit: operator-defined via Rate Limit Service descriptors
  - name: Operator-configured local rate limit
    scope: route/cluster
    metric: tokens_per_second
    limit: operator-defined via token-bucket fill_interval and max_tokens
policies:
  - name: Token bucket
    description: Envoy's local rate limiter uses a token-bucket algorithm; operators specify max_tokens,
      tokens_per_fill, and fill_interval per route or cluster.
  - name: Global rate limiting via RLS
    description: Global limits are enforced by an external gRPC Rate Limit Service; Envoy sends descriptors
      and the RLS returns OVER_LIMIT or OK.
  - name: Status override
    description: The HTTP status returned on throttle is configurable (defaults to 429); operators may
      also enforce a 503 envoy_rate_limited response on the local filter.
maintainers:
  - FN: Kin Lane
    email: kin@apievangelist.com