perURL

PerURL is a design concept in web architecture describing policies, configurations, and behavior that are applied on a per-URL basis rather than globally across an entire application or service. The goal is to tailor handling of each endpoint according to its function, sensitivity, and performance requirements.

PerURL is commonly used in content delivery networks, reverse proxies, API gateways, and web frameworks to implement granular controls such as caching, authentication, rate limiting, and routing decisions.

Implementation typically relies on routing rules or metadata attached to URL patterns. In traditional web servers, per-URL behavior is expressed with location or path blocks that assign handlers, middleware, or properties to specific paths. In containerized architectures and cloud services, per-URL policies are declared through path-based rules in API gateways, load balancers, or edge workers.

Advantages include finer control over security and performance; the ability to apply different TTLs, auth schemes, and limits to distinct endpoints. Drawbacks include added configuration complexity, potential for inconsistencies, and cache fragmentation that can reduce overall cache effectiveness if not managed carefully.

Common use cases include applying a longer cache TTL to static assets under /static/, enforcing stricter authentication for /admin/*, rate limiting to /api/v2/*, and enabling detailed access logging for sensitive endpoints.

See also: caching, rate limiting, URL routing, access control lists, API gateway.