How I Protected My Telegram Bot's AI Quota From Spam Users

The Problem

Free AI APIs have hard daily limits. One aggressive user can consume the entire quota. There's no native protection unless you build it.

I needed:

• Per-user rate limiting
• Global daily cap
• Response caching for common questions

The Fix - 3 Layers

Layer 1: Per-User Rate Limit

def check_rate_limit(user_id):
    now = time.time()
    hour_ago = now - 3600
    uid = str(user_id)
    user_requests.setdefault(uid, [])
    user_requests[uid] = [t for t in user_requests[uid] if t > hour_ago]
    if len(user_requests[uid]) >= 20:
        return False
    user_requests[uid].append(now)
    return True

20 messages per hour per user. 99% of users never hit this.

Layer 2: Global Daily Cap

global_counter = {"date": "...", "count": 0}

def check_global_limit():
    today = datetime.utcnow().strftime("%Y-%m-%d")
    if global_counter["date"] != today:
        global_counter["date"] = today
        global_counter["count"] = 0
    if global_counter["count"] >= 1400:
        return False
    global_counter["count"] += 1
    return True

Cap at 1,400 - 100 buffer below the 1,500 limit.

Layer 3: Response Cache

answer_cache = {}
cached = answer_cache.get(question.lower().strip())
if cached:
    return cached
answer_cache[question.lower().strip()] = answer

Common questions like What is Bitcoin? get cached. Repeat users hit the cache, not the API.

The Results

• Spam blocked: 20 msg/hour limit, 99% users unaffected
• Quota saved: 50-70% via caching
• Zero extra cost: All in-memory, no database

What I Learned

Free tiers are fragile. Build protection before you scale. Rate limiting + caching is the cheapest fix - no infrastructure needed.

Want the Full Script?

I packaged this as a production-tested template. Includes:

• Complete quota_protection.py
• Bot integration example
• Setup guide
• Multi-provider fallback ready

I'm building an automated Telegram empire in public. Follow along for real code, real numbers, no hype.

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