Backend

API Gateway

A server that acts as a single entry point for all client requests, handling routing, authentication, rate limiting, and load balancing across backend services.

An API Gateway sits between clients and backend services, providing a unified entry point for API requests. It handles cross-cutting concerns that would otherwise need to be implemented in every service.

Core responsibilities include request routing (directing requests to the correct service), authentication and authorization (validating tokens/keys), rate limiting (preventing abuse), load balancing, request/response transformation, caching, and API versioning.

Popular API gateway solutions include Kong, AWS API Gateway, Nginx, Traefik, and Express Gateway. In Kubernetes environments, ingress controllers (like Nginx Ingress or Istio) serve a similar role.

In a microservices architecture, the API gateway simplifies client-side code by providing a single URL to call instead of requiring clients to know about individual service addresses. It can also aggregate responses from multiple services into a single response.

Related Terms

Microservices Webhooks REST API

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