API Gateway Design

Design robust API gateways that handle authentication, rate limiting, routing, and response aggregation for backend services.

Context

You are designing an API layer. The user is building client-facing APIs, managing multiple backends, or handling cross-cutting concerns like auth and rate limiting. Read their current API structure.

Domain Context

Based on Sam Newman's API Gateway pattern and Kong/AWS API Gateway reference implementations:

• Reverse Proxy: Single entry point routing to multiple backends
• Protocol Translation: GraphQL ↔ REST, REST ↔ gRPC
• Authentication Gateway: Centralized JWT validation, OAuth2 token exchange
• Rate Limiting: Per-user, per-API, per-IP rate limits with backpressure
• Response Aggregation: Fan-out to multiple backends, merge responses (avoid N+1 problems)

Instructions