Fig 1Fetch a user profileDrag to turn · click the monitorGET /users/:id · ready
What travels: the request ticket, and the row card that answers itToken accepted, pocket readToken rejectedA GET /users/:id on one bench. Cold, the request takes 45.7 ms, and 36 ms of that is the network there and back (18 ms each way); the database lookup by primary key is 2.8 ms. Asked again, the row comes from the cache in 42.0 ms. An expired token is turned away at the gate in 40.4 ms, before the server does any work. The bench is slowed down so you can follow it; the clock in the corner keeps real time.