Allowed excess can wait or proceed immediately; requests beyond the burst allowance are rejected.

nginx burst capacity decides which requests wait and which are rejected

nginx request limiting uses a leaky-bucket method to account for excess requests against a configured rate. The burst allowance determines how much excess can be accepted, while nodelay and delay affect when accepted excess proceeds. These are admission and scheduling decisions. They do not make every request above the nominal rate fail, nor do they measure concurrent application work. ...

January 5, 2028 · 5 min · XB Field Notes