Create Rate Limiting rules via API

Use the Rulesets API to create a Rate Limiting rule via API.

A Rate Limiting rule is similar to a regular rule handled by the ruleset engine, but contains an additional ratelimit field with the rate limiting configuration. See Rate limiting parameters for more information on this field and its parameters.

You must deploy Rate Limiting rules to the http_ratelimit phase.

​​ Create a Rate Limiting rule

To create a Rate Limiting rule, add a rule with a ratelimit field to the http_ratelimit phase entry point ruleset by issuing a PUT request (refer to the example below).

Add any existing rules in the ruleset to the request by including their rule ID in the rules field of the request body. Rate limiting rules must appear at the end of the rules list.

Request
curl -X PUT \
  -H "X-Auth-Email: user@cloudflare.com" \
  -H "X-Auth-Key: REDACTED" \
  "https://api.cloudflare.com/client/v4/zones/{zone-id}/rulesets/phases/http_ratelimit/entrypoint" \
-d '{
  "rules": [
    {
      "description": "My rate limiting rule",
      "expression": "(http.request.uri.path matches \"^/api/\")",
      "action": "block",
      "ratelimit": {
        "characteristics": [
          "cf.colo.id",
          "ip.src",
          "http.request.headers[\"x-api-key\"]"
        ],
        "period": 60,
        "requests_per_period": 100,
        "mitigation_timeout": 600
      }
    }
  ]
}'

Response
{
  "result": {
    "id": "{ruleset-id}",
    "name": "Default",
    "description": "",
    "kind": "zone",
    "version": "5",
    "rules": [
      {
        "id": "{rate-limiting-rule-id}",
        "version": "1",
        "action": "block",
        "ratelimit": {
          "characteristics": [
            "cf.colo.id",
            "http.request.headers[\"x-api-key\"]",
            "ip.src"
          ],
          "period": 60,
          "requests_per_period": 100,
          "mitigation_timeout": 600
        },
        "expression": "(http.request.uri.path matches \"^/api/\")",
        "description": "My rate limiting rule",
        "last_updated": "2021-03-31T18:33:41.347Z",
        "ref": "{rule-ref-1}",
        "enabled": true
      }
    ],
    "last_updated": "2021-03-31T18:33:41.347Z",
    "phase": "http_ratelimit"
  },
  "success": true,
  "errors": [],
  "messages": []
}