API Gateway Patterns
Master gateway responsibilities, the Backend for Frontend pattern, rate limiting at the edge, and when to use an API gateway vs direct service calls.
As your system grows from a single application to multiple services, a new problem emerges: how do clients interact with all these services? Should the mobile app call the user service, then the order service, then the payment service? Should it know the addresses of each service? Should it handle authentication with each one?
The API gateway is the answer. It is a single entry point that routes, transforms, and protects access to your backend services. Done well, it simplifies client code and centralizes cross-cutting concerns. Done poorly, it becomes a bottleneck and a single point of failure.
What an API Gateway Does
An API gateway sits between clients and your backend services, handling concerns that are common across all services.
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