ZYTE_API_PRESERVE_DELAY added to provide possibility to set custom delay

docs/reference/settings.rst

@@ -205,6 +205,31 @@ Note that requests with error responses that cannot be retried or exceed their
 retry limit also count here.
 
 
+.. setting:: ZYTE_API_PRESERVE_DELAY
+
+ZYTE_API_PRESERVE_DELAY
+=======================
+
+Default: ``False if`` :setting:`AUTOTHROTTLE_ENABLED
+<scrapy:AUTOTHROTTLE_ENABLED>` ``else True``
+
+By default, requests for which use of scrapy-zyte-api is enabled get
+``zyte-api@`` prepended to their download slot ID, and if
+:setting:`AUTOTHROTTLE_ENABLED <scrapy:AUTOTHROTTLE_ENABLED>` is ``True``, the
+corresponding download slot gets its download delay reset to 0. This nullifies
+the effects of the :ref:`AutoThrottle extension <topics-autothrottle>` for Zyte
+API requests, delegating throttling management to Zyte API.
+
+If :setting:`AUTOTHROTTLE_ENABLED <scrapy:AUTOTHROTTLE_ENABLED>` is ``False``,
+but you have a download delay set through :setting:`DOWNLOAD_DELAY
+<scrapy:DOWNLOAD_DELAY>` and you do not want that delay to affect Zyte API
+requests, set this setting to ``False``.
+
+If you have :setting:`AUTOTHROTTLE_ENABLED <scrapy:AUTOTHROTTLE_ENABLED>`
+enabled, and you want it to also work on Zyte API requests, set this setting to
+``True``.
+
+
 .. setting:: ZYTE_API_PROVIDER_PARAMS
 
 ZYTE_API_PROVIDER_PARAMS

scrapy_zyte_api/_middlewares.py

@@ -21,6 +21,10 @@ def from_crawler(cls, crawler):
     def __init__(self, crawler):
         self._param_parser = _ParamParser(crawler, cookies_enabled=False)
         self._crawler = crawler
+        self._preserve_delay = crawler.settings.getbool(
+            "ZYTE_API_PRESERVE_DELAY",
+            not crawler.settings.getbool("AUTOTHROTTLE_ENABLED"),
+        )
 
     def slot_request(self, request, spider, force=False):
         if not force and self._param_parser.parse(request) is None:
@@ -31,8 +35,9 @@ def slot_request(self, request, spider, force=False):
         if not isinstance(slot_id, str) or not slot_id.startswith(self._slot_prefix):
             slot_id = f"{self._slot_prefix}{slot_id}"
             request.meta["download_slot"] = slot_id
-        _, slot = downloader._get_slot(request, spider)
-        slot.delay = 0
+        if not self._preserve_delay:
+            _, slot = downloader._get_slot(request, spider)
+            slot.delay = 0
 
 
 class ScrapyZyteAPIDownloaderMiddleware(_BaseMiddleware):

tests/test_middlewares.py

@@ -39,16 +39,26 @@ def spider_output_processor(middleware, request, spider):
 
 
 @pytest.mark.parametrize(
-    "mw_cls,processor",
+    ["mw_cls", "processor"],
     [
         (ScrapyZyteAPIDownloaderMiddleware, request_processor),
         (ScrapyZyteAPISpiderMiddleware, start_request_processor),
         (ScrapyZyteAPISpiderMiddleware, spider_output_processor),
     ],
 )
+@pytest.mark.parametrize(
+    ["settings", "preserve"],
+    [
+        ({}, True),
+        ({"ZYTE_API_PRESERVE_DELAY": False}, False),
+        ({"ZYTE_API_PRESERVE_DELAY": True}, True),
+        ({"AUTOTHROTTLE_ENABLED": True}, False),
+        ({"AUTOTHROTTLE_ENABLED": True, "ZYTE_API_PRESERVE_DELAY": True}, True),
+    ],
+)
 @ensureDeferred
-async def test_autothrottle_handling(mw_cls, processor):
-    crawler = get_crawler()
+async def test_preserve_delay(mw_cls, processor, settings, preserve):
+    crawler = get_crawler(settings_dict=settings)
     await crawler.crawl("a")
     spider = crawler.spider
 
@@ -64,13 +74,13 @@ async def test_autothrottle_handling(mw_cls, processor):
     _, slot = crawler.engine.downloader._get_slot(request, spider)
     assert slot.delay == spider.download_delay
 
-    # On Zyte API requests, the download slot is changed, and its delay is set
-    # to 0.
+    # On Zyte API requests, the download slot is changed, and its delay may be
+    # set to 0 depending on settings.
     request = Request("https://example.com", meta={"zyte_api": {}})
     processor(middleware, request, spider)
     assert request.meta["download_slot"] == "[email protected]"
     _, slot = crawler.engine.downloader._get_slot(request, spider)
-    assert slot.delay == 0
+    assert slot.delay == (5 if preserve else 0)
 
     # Requests that happen to already have the right download slot assigned
     # work the same.
@@ -79,17 +89,18 @@ async def test_autothrottle_handling(mw_cls, processor):
     processor(middleware, request, spider)
     assert request.meta["download_slot"] == "[email protected]"
     _, slot = crawler.engine.downloader._get_slot(request, spider)
-    assert slot.delay == 0
+    assert slot.delay == (5 if preserve else 0)
 
-    # The slot delay is set to 0 every time a request for the slot is
+    # The slot delay is taken into account every time a request for the slot is
     # processed, so even if it gets changed later on somehow, the downloader
-    # middleware will reset it to 0 again the next time it processes a request.
+    # middleware may reset it to 0 again the next time it processes a request
+    # depending on settings.
     slot.delay = 10
     request = Request("https://example.com", meta={"zyte_api": {}})
     processor(middleware, request, spider)
     assert request.meta["download_slot"] == "[email protected]"
     _, slot = crawler.engine.downloader._get_slot(request, spider)
-    assert slot.delay == 0
+    assert slot.delay == (10 if preserve else 0)
 
     await crawler.stop()