Decisions

Every limiter call returns a RateLimitDecision. The provider changes where state lives, but the decision model stays the same.

Allowed

Allowed means the request should proceed.

You will see this:

• below the limit in absolute mode
• below the limit in suppressed mode
• sometimes above the nominal limit in suppressed mode when the probabilistic check still admits the request

Rejected

Rejected is used by the absolute strategy.

It means the limiter hit a hard boundary and the request should not proceed. The decision can also include best-effort hints such as:

• retry_after_ms
• remaining_after_waiting

Those are operational hints, not a promise of exact future admission.

Suppressed

Suppressed is used by the suppressed strategy. It carries:

• is_allowed
• suppression_factor

The important rule is simple: always check is_allowed.

If is_allowed is true, the request may proceed. If it is false, the request should be dropped or degraded.

When each decision shape appears

What this means for application code

• Absolute mode is easiest when your app wants a hard yes/no answer.
• Suppressed mode is better when your app wants controlled load shedding instead of a cliff-edge cutoff.