Reliability & rate limiting
Retries, exponential backoff, circuit breakers, token buckets, and idempotent handlers.
Build a Rate Limiter Decorator in Python
This code defines a reusable rate limiter decorator that caps function calls within a sliding time window using a deque and monotonic time.
import time
from collections import deque
def rate_limiter(max_calls: int, period: float):
calls = deque()
def decorator(func):
def wrapper(*args, **kwargs):
now = time.monotonic()
while calls and now - calls[0] >= period:
calls.popleft()
if len(ca…Build a queue-based admission control system in Python
Implement a simple bounded-queue admission controller that accepts or rejects incoming requests based on current queue capacity.
from collections import deque
import time
class AdmissionControl:
"""Simple admission control using a bounded queue.
Requests arrive at the queue; they are admitted in FIFO order.
If the queue is full, the incoming request is rejected.
"""
def __init__(self, capacity: int):
self.capacit…Chaos Inject Random Failures in Python
Simulate random failures in a Python function to test error handling and resilience, using random thresholds and controllable success rates.
import random
def unreliable_function(success_rate: float = 0.7) -> str:
"""Simulate a function that sometimes fails."""
if random.random() > success_rate:
raise ConnectionError("Simulated network failure")
return "Operation completed successfully"
if __name__ == "__main__":
random.seed(42)…Exactly Once Processing Dedupe Mock in Python
Implements a streaming deduplicator using a set and queue to guarantee each item is processed exactly once while preserving insertion order.
from collections import deque
class DedupeStream:
def __init__(self):
self.seen = set()
self.queue = deque()
def add(self, item):
if item not in self.seen:
self.seen.add(item)
self.queue.append(item)
print(f"Processed: {item} (exactly once)")
…Fixed Window Counter Rate Limiting in Python
A simple fixed window counter rate limiter that allows a maximum number of requests per 60-second window, with a mock time simulation.
from collections import deque
from time import time
class FixedWindowCounter:
def __init__(self, max_requests):
self.max_requests = max_requests
self.window_start = int(time())
self.window_count = 0
def allow_request(self):
current_time = int(time())
if current_time >=…Health Check Mark Unhealthy Stop Traffic Mock in Python
Simulates a health check with a 20% failure rate and automatically stops traffic when the service is unhealthy.
import time
import random
class HealthCheck:
def __init__(self):
self.is_healthy = True
self.stop_traffic = False
def check_health(self):
# Simulate health check with random failure rate (20% chance unhealthy)
self.is_healthy = random.random() > 0.2
return self.is_heal…How to Build a Rate Limiter in Python
Implements a simple sliding-window rate limiter that caps the number of calls per period, used to throttle processing of a data list.
import time
class RateLimiter:
def __init__(self, max_calls, period):
self.max_calls = max_calls
self.period = period
self.timestamps = []
def allow(self):
now = time.time()
self.timestamps = [t for t in self.timestamps if now - t < self.period]
if len(self.tim…How to Deduplicate Messages in Python by ID
This code consumes a mock inbox of JSON messages and deduplicates them by message ID, keeping either the first or last occurrence.
import json
from collections import OrderedDict
mock_inbox = [
{"id": 1, "message": "hello", "timestamp": "2024-01-01T10:00:00Z"},
{"id": 2, "message": "world", "timestamp": "2024-01-01T10:01:00Z"},
{"id": 1, "message": "hello", "timestamp": "2024-01-01T10:00:00Z"},
{"id": 3, "message": "test", "times…How to Implement Message Visibility Timeout Renewal in Python
Simulate queue message visibility control with timeout renewal using a simple Python class that tracks received time and visibility state.
import time
import uuid
class Message:
def __init__(self, body, visibility_timeout=30):
self.body = body
self.visibility_timeout = visibility_timeout
self.receipt_handle = str(uuid.uuid4())
self.received_at = time.time()
self.deleted = False
def is_visible(self):
…How to Implement a Rate Limiter in Python
A beginner-friendly Python class that tracks call timestamps with a deque to allow or block calls based on a max rate per time period.
import time
from collections import deque
class RateLimiter:
"""Simple rate limiter for beginners."""
def __init__(self, max_calls: int, period_seconds: float):
self.max_calls = max_calls
self.period = period_seconds
self.calls = deque()
def allow(self) -> bool:
"""Retur…How to Implement a Sliding Window Counter in Python
This code implements an approximate sliding window counter using a deque of time-based buckets to track event counts within a recent time window.
from collections import deque
from time import time
class SlidingWindowCounter:
def __init__(self, window_size, bucket_size=1):
self.window_size = window_size
self.bucket_size = bucket_size
self.buckets = deque()
def _evict_expired(self, now):
while self.buckets and self.buck…How to Inject Random Latency for Chaos Testing in Python
Mock unreliable services by wrapping functions with a decorator that adds random network-like delays before execution.
import random
import time
from functools import wraps
def inject_latency(func):
@wraps(func)
def wrapper(*args, **kwargs):
latency = random.uniform(0.1, 0.5)
print(f"Injecting {latency:.3f}s latency...")
time.sleep(latency)
return func(*args, **kwargs)
return wrapper
@inje…How to Mock Fault Injection Percentage in Python
Simulate a service with a 30% failure rate using random.random to test error handling and retries.
import random
class Service:
def call(self):
if random.random() < 0.3: # 30% failure rate
raise ConnectionError("Simulated network fault")
return "ok"
def main():
svc = Service()
random.seed(42) # deterministic for demonstration
results = []
for _ in range(10):
…How to Mock a Slow Startup Probe in Python
Simulate slow service initialization with a configurable mock delay to test readiness probes.
import time
from dataclasses import dataclass, field
@dataclass
class StartupProbe:
name: str
min_wait_sec: float = 0.5
max_wait_sec: float = 2.0
_ready: bool = field(default=False, init=False, repr=False)
def initialize(self) -> None:
"""Simulate slow startup with a fixed mock delay."""…How to Retry on Specific Exception Tuples in Python
A decorator-based retry pattern that retries a function only when it raises exceptions specified in a tuple, with configurable retries and delay.
import time
import random
from unittest.mock import patch
def retry_on_exceptions(retries=3, exceptions=(ValueError,), delay=0.1):
def decorator(func):
def wrapper(*args, **kwargs):
for attempt in range(retries):
try:
return func(*args, **kwargs)
…How to Stop Receiving Requests Until Ready in Python
A mock server that refuses requests until a readiness gate is passed, simulating fail-stop behavior for production reliability.
import random
import time
class MockServer:
def __init__(self):
self.ready = False
self.requests_received = 0
def readiness_check(self):
"""Simulates a readiness probe. Returns True only when ready."""
if not self.ready:
return False
return True
def r…How to implement rate limiting in Python
Build a simple sliding-window rate limiter in Python that enforces a max number of calls per time period and formats data with timestamps.
import time
class RateLimiter:
def __init__(self, max_calls, period):
self.max_calls = max_calls
self.period = period
self.calls = []
def allow(self):
now = time.time()
# Remove calls older than the period window
self.calls = [t for t in self.calls if now -…How to mock a fallback return value in Python
Test a function that returns a default value on failure by mocking requests.get and its side effects.
from unittest.mock import Mock, patch
import requests
def fetch_data(url, default=None):
try:
response = requests.get(url)
response.raise_for_status()
return response.json()
except (requests.RequestException, ValueError):
return default
with patch("requests.get") as mock_get:
…Rate Limiting with Queue Rejection in Python
Simulates a load shed pattern that rejects tasks when a queue fills up.
from collections import deque
import time
class RateLimiter:
def __init__(self, max_queue_size=3):
self.queue = deque()
self.max_queue_size = max_queue_size
self.rejected_count = 0
def submit(self, task_name):
if len(self.queue) >= self.max_queue_size:
self.reject…Rate Limiting with a Simple Python RateLimiter Class
A beginner-friendly Python rate limiter that tracks call timestamps and enforces a maximum number of calls within a rolling time window, with a helper to validate positive integers.
import time
class RateLimiter:
def __init__(self, max_calls, period_seconds):
self.max_calls = max_calls
self.period_seconds = period_seconds
self.calls = []
def is_allowed(self):
now = time.time()
while self.calls and now - self.calls[0] >= self.period_seconds:
…Browse by section
Each section groups closely related Python snippets.
Reliability & rate limiting — Python code examples
What you will find here
This page collects reliability & rate limiting snippets — short, copy-ready Python you can paste into our free online IDE and run without installing anything. Each sample includes a plain-English explanation and the full source code.
Samples vs tutorials and challenges
Samples are quick reference — one concept per page. For step-by-step teaching, use our Python tutorials. To test yourself, try quizzes or coding challenges. Clean up style with the Python formatter.