Creating an IP-based rate-limiter with Tyk and JavaScript middleware

In the blog post, Martin Buhr explains how to implement an IP-based rate limiter using Tyk and JavaScript middleware. Although Tyk does not natively support IP-based rate limiting, it can be configured to do so with a custom JavaScript middleware function. The process involves setting up an API with a specific configuration that allows the middleware to run before any other Tyk processing, capturing the IP address from the request header, and using it to set a rate limit on a per-IP basis. The middleware creates a unique key for each IP address, applying a rate limit of 100 requests per second with a quota of 100 requests per minute, and this key is valid for 48 hours to prevent database saturation. The blog provides detailed instructions and code snippets to guide users through the implementation, emphasizing the importance of correctly setting headers in the server configuration to ensure IP addresses are correctly captured. Once configured, Tyk processes requests with the IP address acting as an authorization token, enforcing the set rate limits efficiently.