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: Traefik Labs
providerId: traefik
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: '2026-05-15'
reconciled: false
tags:
  - API Gateway
  - API Management
  - Kubernetes
  - Rate Limiting
description: >-
  Traefik Proxy is self-hosted software, so request throttling is configured
  by the operator (via the RateLimit / InFlightReq HTTP middlewares and the
  InFlightConn TCP middleware) rather than imposed by Traefik Labs as a
  vendor. Traefik Hub adds the APIPlan CRD, which carries documented rate
  and quota fields (limit, period, bucket) that operators apply per managed
  subscription. The Hub control plane's own API-management quotas are not
  published on the public site and are part of each customer's commercial
  agreement.
sources:
  - https://doc.traefik.io/traefik-hub/api-management/api-plans
  - https://doc.traefik.io/traefik/reference/routing-configuration/http/middlewares/overview/
  - https://traefik.io/pricing/
products:
  - name: Traefik Proxy
    reconciled: true
    notes: Self-hosted; rate-limits are operator-configured policy, not a vendor quota.
  - name: Traefik Hub API Gateway / API Management
    reconciled: false
    notes: Customer-tier quotas are part of the commercial agreement and not published publicly.
limits:
  - name: Traefik Proxy (self-hosted) - tenant-facing
    scope: operator-configured
    metric: requests
    limit: defined by the operator via the RateLimit middleware
    notes: The middleware supports `average` requests-per-period, `burst` token-bucket size, and `period` window length.
  - name: Traefik Proxy (self-hosted) - concurrent requests
    scope: operator-configured
    metric: in-flight requests
    limit: defined by the operator via the InFlightReq HTTP middleware (amount field)
  - name: Traefik Proxy (self-hosted) - concurrent TCP connections
    scope: operator-configured
    metric: in-flight TCP connections
    limit: defined by the operator via the InFlightConn TCP middleware (amount field)
  - name: Traefik Hub APIPlan default example
    scope: managed-subscription
    metric: requests
    limit: 1 request / second + 10,000 requests / 750 hours (vendor-documented illustrative APIPlan)
    notes: Documented as an example in the APIPlan CRD reference; production plans are customer-defined.
  - name: Traefik Hub control plane
    scope: account
    metric: varies
    limit: not published; governed by the commercial agreement
policies:
  - name: HTTP RateLimit Middleware
    description: >-
      Configurable per router or service. Fields - average (req/period),
      burst (token-bucket capacity), period (e.g. 1s, 1m), and optional
      sourceCriterion to scope the limit to a header, IP, or ipStrategy.
      Returns HTTP 429 when exceeded.
  - name: HTTP InFlightReq Middleware
    description: >-
      Caps concurrent in-flight HTTP requests per source criterion. Returns
      HTTP 429 when the configured `amount` is reached.
  - name: TCP InFlightConn Middleware
    description: >-
      Caps concurrent TCP connections per remote IP. Refuses connections
      once the configured `amount` is reached.
  - name: Hub APIPlan
    description: >-
      Kubernetes CRD attached to managed subscriptions. Carries a rateLimit
      block (limit, period, bucket) and a quota block (limit, period,
      bucket). Bucket controls scoping - per subscription, per application,
      or per application-API pair. Exceeding either yields HTTP 429.
  - name: Contact Sales for Hub Quotas
    description: >-
      Provider-side quotas on the Hub control plane are not published; the
      commercial contract sets the operational limits.
maintainers:
  - FN: Kin Lane
    email: kin@apievangelist.com