> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.ultrabalancer.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Introduction

> UltraBalancer - Production-grade load balancer built in Rust

## What is UltraBalancer?

UltraBalancer is a modern, high-performance load balancer built with Rust. It combines extreme throughput with an exceptional developer experience — everything you need to distribute traffic across your backends.

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="High Performance" icon="bolt">
    Handle 500k+ RPS with lock-free data structures and zero-copy I/O
  </Card>

  <Card title="One-Command Setup" icon="rocket">
    `ultrabalancer dashboard --start` - instant Grafana + Prometheus
  </Card>

  <Card title="7 Algorithms" icon="code-branch">
    Round-robin, least-connections, IP-hash, weighted, random, power-of-two, fastest-response
  </Card>

  <Card title="Production Ready" icon="shield">
    TLS termination, rate limiting, sticky sessions, circuit breakers
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

## Features

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="Load Balancing">
    * **Round Robin** - Equal distribution across backends
    * **Least Connections** - Route to least busy backend
    * **IP Hash** - Consistent hashing for session affinity
    * **Weighted** - Priority-based distribution
    * **Random** - Stochastic distribution
    * **Power of Two** - Pick 2 random, use least loaded
    * **Fastest Response** - Route to fastest recent responder
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Protocol Support">
    * HTTP/1.1 with keep-alive connection pooling
    * HTTP/2 multiplexing
    * WebSocket full-duplex proxying
    * TLS termination with rustls
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Performance">
    * Response caching with TTL support
    * Gzip, Brotli, and Zstd compression
    * Graceful shutdown with connection draining
    * Real-time metrics (p50, p95, p99 latencies)
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Reliability">
    * Automatic health checking
    * Circuit breaker pattern
    * Retry with exponential backoff
    * Sticky sessions via cookies
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Security">
    * Global and per-IP rate limiting
    * IP whitelist/blacklist with CIDR support
    * X-API-Key authentication for admin API
    * Request ID tracking for distributed tracing
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Operations">
    * Prometheus metrics endpoint at `/prometheus`
    * JSON metrics at `/metrics`
    * Access logging (combined and JSON formats)
    * Hot configuration reload
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

## Why UltraBalancer?

<CardGroup cols={3}>
  <Card title="Blazing Fast" icon="gauge-high">
    500k+ RPS with zero-copy I/O and HTTP/2 multiplexing
  </Card>

  <Card title="All-in-One" icon="box">
    Caching, compression, rate limiting, TLS — built in, no plugins
  </Card>

  <Card title="Easy Start" icon="wand-magic-sparkles">
    Single command to start. Config files for production.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

## Quick Example

```bash theme={null}
# Start load balancing across two backends
ultrabalancer start round-robin backend1:8080 backend2:8080 -p 80

# With caching and compression enabled
ultrabalancer start least-connections backend1:8080 backend2:8080 \
  --cache --compression gzip

# Start with a config file
ultrabalancer start -c /etc/ultrabalancer/config.yaml
```

## One-Click Install

```bash theme={null}
# Install UltraBalancer with a single command
curl -sSL https://package.ultrabalancer.com/install.sh | sh
```

That's it! The installer automatically detects your platform (Linux/macOS/Windows), downloads the latest version, and sets up the binary.

[See all installation options →](/installation)

## One-Command Monitoring

```bash theme={null}
# Start Grafana + Prometheus with one command
ultrabalancer dashboard --start
```

* **Grafana**: [http://localhost:3000](http://localhost:3000) (admin + auto-generated password)
* **Prometheus**: [http://localhost:9090](http://localhost:9090)

[Learn more about monitoring →](/integration/monitoring)

## Use Cases

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="High-Traffic APIs" icon="globe">
    Handle 500k+ RPS with built-in caching, compression, and rate limiting
  </Card>

  <Card title="Microservices" icon="diagram-project">
    Health checking, circuit breakers, and sticky sessions for stateful services
  </Card>

  <Card title="Real-Time Apps" icon="arrows-left-right">
    Full WebSocket proxying for chat, gaming, and live updates
  </Card>

  <Card title="Edge Deployments" icon="cloud">
    TLS termination, IP filtering, and access logging at the edge
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

## Performance

| Metric         | UltraBalancer                     | NGINX           |
| -------------- | --------------------------------- | --------------- |
| RPS (100 conn) | 18,722                            | 21,899          |
| Latency (p50)  | 38.93ms                           | 34.47ms         |
| Setup Time     | `ultrabalancer dashboard --start` | Hours of config |

UltraBalancer delivers competitive performance with superior developer experience and built-in monitoring.

[See benchmark details →](/testing/benchmarks)

## Get Started

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Quickstart" icon="play" href="/quickstart">
    Get running in 2 minutes
  </Card>

  <Card title="Installation" icon="download" href="/installation">
    Install on your system
  </Card>

  <Card title="Configuration" icon="gear" href="/configuration/overview">
    Configure for production
  </Card>

  <Card title="Algorithms" icon="server" href="/concepts/algorithms">
    Choose the right algorithm
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

## Resources

<CardGroup cols={3}>
  <Card title="GitHub" icon="github" href="https://github.com/bas3line/ultrabalancer">
    Source code and issues
  </Card>

  <Card title="Package Server" icon="box" href="https://package.ultrabalancer.com">
    Downloads and install script
  </Card>

  <Card title="Contact" icon="envelope" href="mailto:kiraa@tuta.io">
    Get help and support
  </Card>
</CardGroup>