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🪣 The Leaky Bucket Algorithm: Smoothing Bursty Network Traffic

Explore how the leaky bucket algorithm turns bursty, unpredictable network traffic into a smooth, constant-rate stream for traffic shaping and rate limiting.

Networks & Graph Theory3DModerate60 FPS

This simulator demonstrates how a leaky bucket absorbs bursty, irregular input traffic and releases it downstream at a fixed, constant rate, showing the bucket fill level and any overflow in real time.

🔬 What It Demonstrates

🎮 How to Use

Adjust the incoming traffic pattern and burst intensity, set the bucket capacity and leak rate, then watch how the bucket level rises and falls and how overflow is handled as traffic streams in.

💡 Did You Know?

Did you know the leaky bucket algorithm was formally defined for ATM telecom networks decades before it became a go-to technique for shaping API traffic on the modern web?

⚙ Under the hood

Explore how the leaky bucket algorithm turns bursty, unpredictable network traffic into a smooth, constant-rate stream for traffic shaping and rate limiting.

leaky buckettraffic shapingrate limitingnetworkingqostoken bucketcongestion controlalgorithms

3D · Three.js / WebGL renderer · 60 FPS target · runs fully client-side, no install