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This guide walks you through cloning, building, and running RLaaS Users Service locally. By the end you will have a running service that enforces a 5-request-per-60-second sliding window and have seen both an allowed response and a rate-limit rejection.

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Prerequisites

Before you begin, make sure you have the following installed:
  • Java 17+ — check with java -version
  • Maven — bundled via the Maven wrapper (./mvnw), no separate install needed
  • Redis — a local instance works fine for getting started
If you do not have Redis running locally, start one with Docker: 
docker run -d -p 6379:6379 redis:7

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Steps

1

Clone and build

Clone the repository and build the JAR, skipping tests for speed:
git clone https://github.com/amitsaxena098/rlaas-users-service.git
cd rlaas-users-service
./mvnw clean package -DskipTests
Maven downloads dependencies on the first run. Subsequent builds are faster.
2

Set required environment variables

The service reads its Redis connection URL from the REDIS_URL environment variable. Export it before starting:
export REDIS_URL=redis://localhost:6379
If you are pushing metrics to Grafana Cloud, also export GRAFANA_CLOUD_ZONE, GRAFANA_CLOUD_INSTANCE_ID, and GRAFANA_CLOUD_API_KEY. Those variables are optional for local testing.
3

Run the service

Start the service using the Maven wrapper:
./mvnw spring-boot:run
The service starts on port 8080 by default. You should see Spring Boot’s startup banner followed by a line confirming the application started successfully.
4

Make your first request

In a new terminal, call the /check endpoint with a userId:
curl "http://localhost:8080/check?userId=alice"
# Response: User is allowed
The service increments Alice’s counter in Redis and returns 200 User is allowed.
5

Trigger rate limiting

Call the endpoint six times in quick succession to exceed the default limit of 5 requests per window:
for i in {1..6}; do curl -s "http://localhost:8080/check?userId=alice"; echo; done
# First 5: User is allowed
# 6th:     User is not allowed...Try after 58 seconds.
The sixth request returns 429 Too Many Requests with the number of seconds remaining in the current window.
The default configuration allows 5 requests per 60-second sliding window. See the configuration page to change the algorithm, window size, or request limit.

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Next steps

Configuration

Adjust the algorithm, window size, and Redis connection.

Algorithms

Understand the difference between fixed-window and sliding-window counters.

API reference

Full reference for the GET /check endpoint.

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