How does a token bucket prevent bursts across a boundary?
A token bucket refills at a constant rate (e.g., 100 tokens per minute) up to a fixed capacity (e.g., 100 tokens). Requests drain tokens instantly; if the bucket is empty, the request is rejected. Natural bursts are absorbed up to capacity, but the sustained rate is always bounded by the refill rate, never the capacity.
Answered in
Token Buckets: Bounding Rate Limits at the EdgeFixed-window counters leak at boundaries. Token buckets refill steadily, absorb bursts, and bound the sustained rate strictly—the algorithm Stripe uses.
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