Kong API Gateway is a high-performance, cloud-native API gateway designed for managing microservices and API traffic, with added AI capabilities for multi-LLM support. It targets developers and organizations seeking a centralized, scalable solution for API orchestration, offering features like advanced routing, authentication, and extensibility through plugins.

How It Works

Kong acts as a reverse proxy, handling incoming API requests and routing them to appropriate backend services. Its architecture is plugin-based, allowing for dynamic extension of functionality. It supports declarative configuration and offers both database-backed and database-less modes for deployment flexibility. The AI Gateway features enable integration with multiple LLMs, prompt engineering, and AI observability.

Quick Start & Requirements

• Install via docker-compose:

  git clone https://github.com/Kong/docker-kong
  cd docker-kong/compose/
  KONG_DATABASE=postgres docker-compose --profile database up
  

• Requires Docker.
• Ports: 8000 (traffic), 8001 (Admin API), 8002 (Kong Manager UI).
• Documentation: https://docs.konghq.com/

Highlighted Details

• Cloud-native and platform-agnostic.
• Extensible via a plugin architecture (Lua, Go, JavaScript).
• Supports advanced AI features with multi-LLM integration.
• Offers declarative configuration and database-less deployment.
• Includes a native Kubernetes Ingress Controller.

Maintenance & Community

• Active development by Kong Inc.
• Community discussions available at https://discuss.konghq.com/ and Slack.
• Blog: https://konghq.com/blog

Licensing & Compatibility

• Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0.
• Permissive license suitable for commercial use and integration with closed-source projects.

Limitations & Caveats

The README focuses on getting started with Docker Compose; other deployment methods may have different prerequisites. While extensibility is a core feature, developing custom plugins requires familiarity with Lua, Go, or JavaScript.