Rate limiting with Redis and Rack::Attack

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Rate limiting is essential protection against abuse and ensures fair resource distribution across API consumers. Rack::Attack with Redis backing provides a robust, shared state solution that works across multiple application servers. I define different throttle rules for authenticated vs anonymous users, with more generous limits for known clients. The key is to return proper 429 Too Many Requests responses with Retry-After headers so well-behaved clients can back off gracefully. I also configure safelist rules for internal services and admin IPs. For production systems, I monitor throttle hits via metrics to distinguish between legitimate traffic spikes and actual attacks, which informs capacity planning decisions.