node-rate-limiter-flexible: A JavaScript repository from firdausramlan

node-rate-limiter-flexible

rate-limiter-flexible limits number of actions by key and protects from DDoS and brute force attacks at any scale.

Fast. Average request takes 0.7ms in Cluster and 2.5ms in Distributed application.

Flexible. Combine limiters, block key for some duration, delay actions, manage failover with insurance options, configure smart key blocking in memory and many others.

Ready for growth. It provides unified API for all limiters. Whenever your application grows, it is ready. Prepare your limiters in minutes.

Friendly. No matter which node package you prefer: redis or ioredis, sequelize or knex, native driver or mongoose. It works with all of them.

It works in process Memory, Cluster, MongoDB, MySQL, PostgreSQL or Redis allows to control requests rate in single process or distributed environment.

It uses fixed window as it is much faster than rolling window. See comparative benchmarks with other libraries here

⭐ It is STARving, don't forget to feed the beast! ⭐

Advantages:

in-memory Block Strategy against really powerful DDoS attacks (like 100k requests per sec) Read about it and benchmarking here
Insurance Strategy as emergency solution if database / store is down Read about Insurance Strategy here
backed on native Promises
works in Cluster without additional software See RateLimiterCluster benchmark and detailed description here
actions can be done evenly over duration window to cut off picks
no race conditions
covered by tests
no prod dependencies
useful get, block, penalty and reward methods

Example

const opts = {
  points: 6, // 6 points
  duration: 1, // Per second
};

const rateLimiter = new RateLimiterMemory(opts);

rateLimiter.consume(remoteAddress, 2) // consume 2 points
    .then((rateLimiterRes) => {
      // 2 points consumed
    })
    .catch((rateLimiterRes) => {
      // Not enough points to consume
    });

Docs and Examples

RateLimiterRedis
RateLimiterMongo
RateLimiterMySQL (support Sequelize and Knex)
RateLimiterPostgres (support Sequelize and Knex)
RateLimiterCluster
RateLimiterMemory
RateLimiterUnion Combine 2 or more limiters to act as single
Express middleware
Koa middleware
Options
API

Benchmark

Average latency during test pure NodeJS endpoint in cluster of 4 workers with everything set up on one server.

1000 concurrent clients with maximum 2000 requests per sec during 30 seconds.

1. Memory   0.34 ms
2. Cluster  0.69 ms
3. Redis    2.45 ms
4. Mongo    4.75 ms

500 concurrent clients with maximum 1000 req per sec during 30 seconds

5. PostgreSQL 7.48 ms (with connection pool max 100)
6. MySQL     14.59 ms (with connection pool 100)

Installation

npm i rate-limiter-flexible

yarn add rate-limiter-flexible

Options

keyPrefix Default: 'rlflx' If you need to create several limiters for different purpose.

Note: for some limiters it should correspond to Storage requirements for tables or collections name, as keyPrefix may be used as their name.
points Default: 4 Maximum number of points can be consumed over duration
duration Default: 1 Number of seconds before consumed points are reset
execEvenly Default: false Delay action to be executed evenly over duration First action in duration is executed without delay. All next allowed actions in current duration are delayed by formula msBeforeDurationEnd / (remainingPoints + 2) It allows to cut off load peaks. Note: it isn't recommended to use it for long duration, as it may delay action for too long
blockDuration Default: 0 If positive number and consumed more than points in current duration, block for blockDuration seconds.

It sets consumed points more than allowed points for blockDuration seconds, so actions are rejected.

Options specific to Redis, Mongo, MySQL, PostgreSQL

storeClient Required Have to be redis, ioredis, mongodb, pg, mysql2, mysql or any other related pool or connection.
inmemoryBlockOnConsumed Default: 0 Against DDoS attacks. Blocked key isn't checked by requesting Redis, MySQL or Mongo. In-memory blocking works in current process memory.
inmemoryBlockDuration Default: 0 Block key for inmemoryBlockDuration seconds, if inmemoryBlockOnConsumed or more points are consumed
insuranceLimiter Default: undefined Instance of RateLimiterAbstract extended object to store limits, when database comes up with any error.

All data from insuranceLimiter is NOT copied to parent limiter, when error gone

Note: insuranceLimiter automatically setup blockDuration and execEvenly to same values as in parent to avoid unexpected behaviour

Options specific to MySQL and PostgreSQL

tableName Default: equals to 'keyPrefix' option By default, limiter creates table for each unique keyPrefix. All limits for all limiters are stored in one table if custom name is set.
storeType Default: storeClient.constructor.name It is required only for Knex and have to be set to 'knex'

Options specific to MySQL

dbName Default: 'rtlmtrflx' Database where limits are stored. It is created during creating a limiter

Options specific to Cluster

timeoutMs Default: 5000 Timeout for communication between worker and master over IPC. If master doesn't response in time, promise is rejected with Error

API

RateLimiterRes object

Both Promise resolve and reject returns object of RateLimiterRes class if there is no any error. Object attributes:

RateLimiterRes = {
    msBeforeNext: 250, // Number of milliseconds before next action can be done
    remainingPoints: 0, // Number of remaining points in current duration 
    consumedPoints: 5, // Number of consumed points in current duration 
    isFirstInDuration: false, // action is first in current duration 
}

rateLimiter.consume(key, points = 1)

Returns Promise, which:

resolved with RateLimiterRes when point(s) is consumed, so action can be done
rejected only for database limiters if insuranceLimiter isn't setup: when some error happened, where reject reason rejRes is Error object
rejected only for RateLimiterCluster if insuranceLimiter isn't setup: when timeoutMs exceeded, where reject reason rejRes is Error object
rejected when there is no points to be consumed, where reject reason rejRes is RateLimiterRes object
rejected when key is blocked (if block strategy is set up), where reject reason rejRes is RateLimiterRes object

Arguments:

key is usually IP address or some unique client id
points number of points consumed. default: 1

rateLimiter.get(key)

Get RateLimiterRes in current duration.

Returns Promise, which:

resolved with RateLimiterRes if key is set
resolved with null if key is NOT set or expired
rejected only for database limiters if insuranceLimiter isn't setup: when some error happened, where reject reason rejRes is Error object
rejected only for RateLimiterCluster if insuranceLimiter isn't setup: when timeoutMs exceeded, where reject reason rejRes is Error object

Arguments:

key is usually IP address or some unique client id

rateLimiter.penalty(key, points = 1)

Fine key by points number of points for one duration.

Note: Depending on time penalty may go to next durations

Returns Promise, which:

resolved with RateLimiterRes
rejected only for database limiters if insuranceLimiter isn't setup: when some error happened, where reject reason rejRes is Error object
rejected only for RateLimiterCluster if insuranceLimiter isn't setup: when timeoutMs exceeded, where reject reason rejRes is Error object

rateLimiter.reward(key, points = 1)

Reward key by points number of points for one duration.

Note: Depending on time reward may go to next durations

Returns Promise, which:

resolved with RateLimiterRes
rejected only for database limiters if insuranceLimiter isn't setup: when some error happened, where reject reason rejRes is Error object
rejected only for RateLimiterCluster if insuranceLimiter isn't setup: when timeoutMs exceeded, where reject reason rejRes is Error object

rateLimiter.block(key, secDuration)

Block key for secDuration seconds

Returns Promise, which:

resolved with RateLimiterRes
rejected only for database limiters if insuranceLimiter isn't setup: when some error happened, where reject reason rejRes is Error object
rejected only for RateLimiterCluster if insuranceLimiter isn't setup: when timeoutMs exceeded, where reject reason rejRes is Error object

Usage

RateLimiterRedis

Redis >=2.6.12

It supports both redis and ioredis clients.

Redis client must be created with offline queue switched off.

const redis = require('redis');
const redisClient = redis.createClient({ enable_offline_queue: false });

const Redis = require('ioredis');
const redisClient = new Redis({
  options: {
    enableOfflineQueue: false
  }
});

const { RateLimiterRedis, RateLimiterMemory } = require('rate-limiter-flexible');

// It is recommended to process Redis errors and setup some reconnection strategy
redisClient.on('error', (err) => {
  
});

const opts = {
  // Basic options
  storeClient: redisClient,
  points: 5, // Number of points
  duration: 5, // Per second(s)
  
  // Custom
  execEvenly: false, // Do not delay actions evenly
  blockDuration: 0, // Do not block if consumed more than points
  keyPrefix: 'rlflx', // must be unique for limiters with different purpose
  
  // Database limiters specific
  inmemoryBlockOnConsumed: 10, // If 10 points consumed in current duration
  inmemoryBlockDuration: 30, // block for 30 seconds in current process memory
};

const rateLimiterRedis = new RateLimiterRedis(opts);

rateLimiterRedis.consume(remoteAddress)
    .then((rateLimiterRes) => {
      // ... Some app logic here ...
      
      // Depending on results it allows to fine
      rateLimiterRedis.penalty(remoteAddress, 3)
        .then((rateLimiterRes) => {});
      // or rise number of points for current duration
      rateLimiterRedis.reward(remoteAddress, 2)
        .then((rateLimiterRes) => {});
    })
    .catch((rejRes) => {
      if (rejRes instanceof Error) {
        // Some Redis error
        // Never happen if `insuranceLimiter` set up
        // Decide what to do with it in other case
      } else {
        // Can't consume
        // If there is no error, rateLimiterRedis promise rejected with number of ms before next request allowed
        const secs = Math.round(rejRes.msBeforeNext / 1000) || 1;
        res.set('Retry-After', String(secs));
        res.status(429).send('Too Many Requests');
      }
    });

RateLimiterRedis benchmark

Endpoint is pure NodeJS endpoint launched in node:10.5.0-jessie and redis:4.0.10-alpine Docker containers by PM2 with 4 workers

By bombardier -c 1000 -l -d 30s -r 2000 -t 5s http://127.0.0.1:8000

Test with 1000 concurrent requests with maximum 2000 requests per sec during 30 seconds

Statistics        Avg      Stdev        Max
  Reqs/sec      2015.20     511.21   14570.19
  Latency        2.45ms     7.51ms   138.41ms
  Latency Distribution
     50%     1.95ms
     75%     2.16ms
     90%     2.43ms
     95%     2.77ms
     99%     5.73ms
  HTTP codes:
    1xx - 0, 2xx - 53556, 3xx - 0, 4xx - 6417, 5xx - 0

RateLimiterMemory

It manages limits in current process memory, so keep it in mind when use it in cluster

const rateLimiter = new RateLimiterMemory(
{
  keyPrefix: 'rlflx',
  points: 1, // 1 is fair if you have 5 workers and 1 cluster, all workers will limit it to 5 in sum
  duration: 5,
  execEvenly: false,
});
    
// Usage is the same as for RateLimiterRedis
// Except: it never rejects Promise with Error

Express middleware

const rateLimiterMiddleware = (req, res, next) => {
  rateLimiter.consume(req.connection.remoteAddress)
    .then(() => {
      next();
    })
    .catch((rejRes) => {
      res.status(429).send('Too Many Requests');
    });
};

Koa middleware

app.use(async (ctx, next) => {
  try {
    await rateLimiter.consume(ctx.ip)
    next()
  } catch (rejRes) {
    ctx.status = 429
    ctx.body = 'Too Many Requests'
  }
})

Contribution

Appreciated, feel free!

Make sure you've launched npm run eslint before creating PR, all errors have to be fixed.

You can try to run npm run eslint-fix to fix some issues.

Any new limiter with storage have to be extended from RateLimiterStoreAbstract. It has to implement at least 3 methods:

_getRateLimiterRes parses raw data from store to RateLimiterRes object
_upsert inserts or updates limits data by key and returns raw data
_get returns raw data by key

All other methods depends on store. See RateLimiterRedis or RateLimiterPostgres for example.

firdausramlan/node-rate-limiter-flexible

node-rate-limiter-flexible

Example

Docs and Examples

Benchmark

Installation

Options

Options specific to Redis, Mongo, MySQL, PostgreSQL

Options specific to MySQL and PostgreSQL

Options specific to MySQL

Options specific to Cluster

API

RateLimiterRes object

rateLimiter.consume(key, points = 1)

rateLimiter.get(key)

rateLimiter.penalty(key, points = 1)

rateLimiter.reward(key, points = 1)

rateLimiter.block(key, secDuration)

Usage

RateLimiterRedis

RateLimiterRedis benchmark

RateLimiterMemory

Express middleware

Koa middleware

Contribution