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Prerequisites

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Creating an express server

1

Create express application

First run the following:
mkdir unkey-with-express
npm init -y
npm install cors dotenv express ts-node
npm install -D @types/cors @types/express ts-node-dev typescript
Then update your package.json to have the following
"scripts": {
    "start": "ts-node ./index.ts",
    "build": "tsc",
    "serve": "node dist/index.js"
  },
2

Install

Now install the @unkey/ratelimit package
npm install @unkey/ratelimit
3

Add Root Key to env

Add your root key to your .env file
UNKEY_ROOT_KEY="YOUR_KEY"
4

Creating the server

Create a file called server.ts and add the following code
server.ts
import express, { Request, Response, Application } from 'express';
import dotenv from 'dotenv';
import { Ratelimit } from '@unkey/ratelimit';
//For env File
dotenv.config();

const app: Application = express();
const port = process.env.PORT || 8000;

/**
This can be a seperate util for easy configurable ratelimiting across
multiple routes.

namespace = The route identifier you would like to ratelimit
limit = The amount of requests
duration = amount of time to limit against for example "30s"

**/
const limiter = new Ratelimit({
    namespace: "express-example",
    limit: 2,
    duration: "30s",
    rootKey: process.env.UNKEY_ROOT_KEY
});


app.get('/', (req: Request, res: Response) => {
  res.send('Welcome to Express & TypeScript Server');
});

// This endpoint is protected by Unkey
app.get('/secret', async (req: Request, res: Response) => {
  const identifier = req.getUserId() // or ip or anything else you want

  const ratelimit = await limiter.limit(identifier)
  if (!ratelimit.success){
    res.status(429).send("Please try again later")
  }

  return res.status(200).send("ok");
})
app.listen(port, () => {
  console.log(`Server is listening at http://localhost:${port}`);
});
5

Running the server

npm run start
6

Try it out

curl 'http://localhost:8000/secret'
You will need to curl a few times to see the ratelimiting error. Once you do, you, you will need to wait to perform the action again.

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What is next?

Now that you’ve seen the power of Unkey, check out some resources below to continue your journey.

Discord

Join our Discord to chat with us and the community

Unkey API Reference

Learn about our API that helps you manage APIs, keys, ratelimits and analytical data.

SDKs

Check out our SDKs and how they fit into your Express application.