Design API Gateway
Last Updated: December 29, 2025
What is an API Gateway?
An API Gateway is a server that acts as a single entry point for all client requests to your backend services. It sits between clients and your microservices, handling cross-cutting concerns like authentication, rate limiting, and request routing.
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Think of it as a smart reverse proxy. Instead of clients directly calling dozens of microservices (each with different protocols, authentication schemes, and endpoints), they interact with one unified API. The gateway abstracts away the complexity of your internal architecture, presenting a clean, consistent interface to the outside world.
Popular Examples: Amazon API Gateway, Kong, NGINX Plus, Apigee
API gateways are fundamental to modern microservices architectures. Understanding how to design one demonstrates knowledge of distributed systems, security, performance optimization, and service orchestration.
In this chapter, we will explore the high-level design of an API Gateway.
Lets start by clarifying the requirements.