# Kong Gateway

Kong Gateway is a cloud-native, high-performance API gateway for teams that need proxying, routing, load balancing, and security for API, LLM, and MCP traffic, configured in DB-less declarative mode. It is open source and self-hosted, installable on Docker Hub and Unraid.

Canonical page: https://ourlocalhost.com/app/310/kong-gateway

## Description

Kong Gateway is a cloud-native, high-performance API gateway for teams that need proxying, routing, load balancing, and security for API, LLM, and MCP traffic, configured in DB-less declarative mode.

## Platform availability

Available on 1 of 9 platforms: Unraid.

## Health score

77/100 (Good), based on 4 of 5 factors.
- Maintained: 93 (last commit 26 days ago)
- Popular: 93 (44,247 GitHub stars)
- Easy to install: 35 (1 install platform, install notes, Docker image)
- Security check: 68 (no serious findings, 9 minor, CI, tests, OpenSSF Scorecard 7.2/10)

## Links

- GitHub: https://github.com/Kong/kong
- Docker Hub: https://hub.docker.com/r/kong/kong-gateway
- Unraid: https://ca.unraid.net/apps/kong-gateway-0nzioj60xv7hu6?q=Kong-Gateway
- Official website: https://konghq.com/products/kong-gateway
- Documentation: https://docs.konghq.com/

## Common questions

### Which ports does the Docker Compose quickstart expose for traffic, administration, and the manager UI?

The compose stack makes the proxy port 8000, the Admin API or decK configuration port 8001, and the Kong Manager web UI port 8002 available on localhost.

### What must I run on a fresh install before starting Kong with a database?

Run kong migrations bootstrap before kong start. This creates the database tables needed for routes and settings, and if your config is not in the default location, pass -c to the config file.

### Where does Kong read its default configuration from, and how do I use a custom config file?

Kong reads its settings from /etc/kong/kong.conf by default. If the config lives elsewhere, pass -c /path/to/your/kong.conf to bootstrap and start so Kong uses the correct datastore settings.

### Is there a DB-less Docker installation option?

Yes, the README mentions a Docker installation procedure for running Kong Gateway in DB-less mode.

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Source: Our Local Host (https://ourlocalhost.com/app/310/kong-gateway), the self-hosted and open-source app directory.