API Gateway

A server that acts as the single entry point for all client requests to a backend system, handling authentication, rate limiting, request routing, logging, and transformation before forwarding requests to the appropriate services.

An API gateway centralises cross-cutting concerns so individual services do not each need to implement authentication and rate limiting independently. It simplifies security, monitoring, and version management for complex multi-service architectures.

A founder's platform has separate services for user management, billing, and content delivery. An API gateway sits in front of all three, verifying every incoming request is authenticated, enforcing rate limits per user tier, and routing to the correct service, so each service can focus purely on its own logic.