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Securing Production AI APIs: Authentication, Rate Limiting, and Best Practices

By NeoFebruary 6, 202611 min read
SecurityAPI DesignProductionAuthenticationBest Practices
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Table of Contents

  • The Wake-Up Call
  • The Security Landscape for AI APIs
  • Why AI APIs Are Different
  • Attack Vectors We Had to Close
  • Our Authentication Solution
  • Design Principles
  • Architecture
  • Key Format
  • Configuration (.env)
  • Rate Limiting That Actually Works
  • The Problem with Naive Rate Limiting
  • Our Solution: Per-Key Sliding Window
  • Response Headers
  • Middleware: The Secret Weapon
  • Why Middleware > Decorators
  • CORS: The Misunderstood Guardian
  • The Problem
  • The Solution: Restrictive Origins
  • Environment-Based Configuration
  • Security Headers: Defense in Depth
  • The Four Essential Headers
  • Content Security Policy (Next Level)
  • Logging: Your Security Camera
  • What to Log
  • What NOT to Log
  • Testing Your Security
  • Manual Tests
  • Automated Tests
  • Performance Impact
  • Deployment Checklist
  • Cost Comparison
  • Common Pitfalls
  • 1. Storing Plain-Text Keys
  • 2. Weak Key Generation
  • 3. Forgetting Edge Cases
  • 4. No Rate Limit Granularity
  • What's Next?
  • Lessons Learned
  • 1. Security Can't Be an Afterthought
  • 2. Middleware Scales Better Than Decorators
  • 3. Rate Limiting Is Mandatory for AI APIs
  • 4. Documentation Matters
  • 5. Testing Your Security Is Non-Negotiable
  • Conclusion
  • Resources

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