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Chapter 57: API Gateway & Traffic Management

Your agent is running inside Kubernetes, but external users can't reach it yet. An API Gateway sits at the edge, handling ingress traffic, authentication, rate limiting, and routing. It protects your services from abuse and provides a single entry point for clients.

This chapter teaches API gateway patterns using Kong (or alternatives like NGINX Ingress, Traefik). You'll configure ingress for your agent, implement rate limiting to control costs, and set up routing for multiple services.

What You'll Learn​

By the end of this chapter, you'll be able to:

  • Understand API gateway patterns: Edge routing, cross-cutting concerns, and gateway vs. mesh
  • Deploy Kong on Kubernetes: Installation, configuration, and CRDs
  • Configure Ingress: Route external traffic to internal services
  • Implement rate limiting: Protect services and control LLM API costs
  • Add authentication: API keys, JWT validation, and OAuth integration
  • Configure load balancing: Round-robin, least connections, and health checks
  • Handle CORS: Cross-origin requests for web clients
  • Apply traffic policies: Request transformation, caching, and timeouts

Chapter Structure​

  1. API Gateway Concepts — Why gateways? Patterns and responsibilities
  2. Kong Installation — Deploying Kong on Kubernetes with Helm
  3. Ingress Configuration — Routes, services, and TLS termination
  4. Rate Limiting — Protecting services and managing costs
  5. Authentication & Authorization — API keys, JWT, and plugins
  6. Load Balancing & Health Checks — Distribution and resilience
  7. Request/Response Transformation — Headers, body modification, and caching
  8. Capstone: Gateway for Your Agent — Full gateway configuration with rate limiting and auth

Prerequisites​

  • Chapter 56: Observable agent (you can see traffic patterns)
  • Chapter 50-51: Kubernetes and Helm
  • Running agent service in Kubernetes

Looking Ahead​

Traffic is managed and protected. Chapter 58 adds comprehensive security and governance, and Chapter 59 provisions cloud infrastructure for production deployment.