R
Rishikesh Baidya
Author
February 5, 202511 min read
Development
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API gateways are the front door to your microservices architecture. As Rishikesh Baidya, our CTO, explains: "A well-designed API gateway centralizes cross-cutting concerns and simplifies client integration—but do it wrong and it becomes a bottleneck." At Softechinfra, we've implemented gateway architectures for SaaS platforms handling millions of requests.
1
Entry Point for All Clients
50%
Less Backend Complexity
10x
Easier Security Mgmt
99.99%
Uptime with HA Config
Why API Gateways?
Single Entry Point
Clients connect to one URL instead of multiple backend services
Centralized Auth
Handle authentication and authorization in one place
Rate Limiting
Protect backend services from overload and abuse
Observability
Unified logging, metrics, and tracing for all API traffic
Core Gateway Patterns
Pattern 1: Routing
Request
Route Match
Transform
Forward
code
Path-Based Routing:
/users/* → User Service
/orders/* → Order Service
/products/* → Product ServiceHeader-Based:
X-API-Version: 2 → v2 services
Host: mobile.api → Mobile BFF
Pattern 2: Centralized Authentication
"Authentication at the gateway means your backend services can trust incoming requests. They don't need to implement auth—they just process requests knowing they're already validated."
code
Request → Gateway → Validate Token → Backend
↓
Reject if invalid
(401 Unauthorized)Pattern 3: Rate Limiting
Protect your services from abuse and overload:
yaml
# Kong rate limiting configuration
plugins:
- name: rate-limiting
config:
minute: 100
hour: 1000
policy: local
limit_by: consumer| Strategy | Use Case | Implementation |
|---|---|---|
| Per Client | Fair usage across consumers | API key or JWT claim |
| Per Endpoint | Protect expensive operations | Route-specific limits |
| Global | Overall capacity protection | Shared counter |
| Adaptive | Handle traffic spikes | Dynamic based on load |
Architecture Patterns
BFF (Backend for Frontend)
Create client-optimized gateways:
code
Web Client → Web BFF → Backend Services
Mobile Client → Mobile BFF → Backend Services
Partner API → Partner BFF → Backend Services
When to Use BFF: When different clients need fundamentally different data shapes, response times, or authentication patterns. A mobile app might need aggregated responses to reduce round trips. See our SaaS architecture guide for more patterns.
Response Aggregation
Combine data from multiple services in a single response:
code
Client Request: GET /dashboard
↓
Gateway
┌───┬───┬───┐
↓ ↓ ↓ ↓
User Orders Analytics Notifications
↓ ↓ ↓ ↓
└───┴───┴───┘
↓
Aggregated ResponseTechnology Comparison
| Solution | Best For | Complexity |
|---|---|---|
| Kong | Plugin ecosystem, K8s native | Medium |
| Envoy | High performance, service mesh | High |
| AWS API Gateway | Serverless, AWS-native | Low |
| Traefik | Auto-discovery, Docker/K8s | Low |
Kong Configuration Example
yaml
services:
- name: user-service
url: http://user-service:8080
routes:
- name: user-routes
paths:
- /api/v1/users
plugins:
- name: rate-limiting
config:
minute: 100
- name: jwt
config:
claims_to_verify:
- exp
- name: cors
config:
origins: ["https://app.example.com"]Implementation Checklist
- Authentication centralized (JWT, OAuth, API keys)
- Rate limiting configured per client and endpoint
- Request/response logging enabled
- TLS termination at gateway
- Health checks for backend services
- Circuit breakers for resilience
- CORS headers configured
- Request validation enabled
Security Considerations
Gateway Security is Critical: The API gateway is your external attack surface. Implement WAF, DDoS protection, and input validation. See our secure development guide for comprehensive security practices.
WAF Integration
Block SQL injection, XSS, and OWASP Top 10 attacks
TLS Termination
Handle HTTPS at the edge, internal traffic can be plain HTTP
Input Validation
Validate request schemas before forwarding to backends
Audit Logging
Log all requests for security analysis and compliance
Best Practices
1
Keep It Thin
Gateway handles routing, auth, and cross-cutting concerns—no business logic. Business logic belongs in services.
2
Version Your APIs
Use URL versioning (/v1/, /v2/) or header versioning to enable evolution without breaking clients.
3
Document with OpenAPI
Generate documentation and client SDKs from your API specification. Projects like ChipMakerHub use OpenAPI for partner integrations.
4
Monitor and Alert
Track latency, error rates, and throughput. Alert on anomalies before they become incidents.
Need Help Designing Your API Architecture?
We help organizations design and implement API gateways that scale—from simple routing to complex microservices orchestration.
Discuss Your API Architecture →Tags:
APIGatewayMicroservicesArchitectureKong