Last updated Jun 14, 2026

Surge mode engagement (SEV3)

Triggered by: traffic ≥ 5× baseline for ≥ 5 minutes (apps/api/lib/surge-mode.ts).

What surge mode does

• Engages load-shed automatically.
• Increases per-token rate-limit headroom temporarily (controlled burst absorption).
• Raises cache TTL on idempotent reads to deflect repeat work.
• Dispatches the surge-mode notification to status page.

Diagnose

Typically benign — surge mode is the system absorbing traffic gracefully. Verify:

matter ops surge-status

Investigate the surge source:

• Customer-side: legitimate growth, marketing campaign, integration.
• Adversarial: cross-check with ddos-response.mdx.

Recover

Surge mode exits automatically when traffic normalises for 10 minutes.

Post-engagement

1. If customer-side surge, reach out to the customer about capacity planning.
2. If chronic, plan a capacity adjustment.