Tyk API Gateway setup for web application

API Gateway Setup (Tyk) for Web Application

Tyk is an open-source API Gateway written in Go, an alternative to Kong. Includes Dashboard, Developer Portal, and built-in support for GraphQL and gRPC. Community Edition is fully functional without licensing restrictions on the number of APIs.

Tyk Components

• Tyk Gateway — the proxy server itself
• Tyk Dashboard — web UI for API management
• Tyk Pump — analytics aggregation to Redis/Elasticsearch/MongoDB
• Tyk Developer Portal — portal for external developers

Docker Compose Deployment

version: '3.8'
services:
  tyk-redis:
    image: redis:7-alpine
    command: redis-server --maxmemory 256mb

  tyk-gateway:
    image: tykio/tyk-gateway:v5.3
    volumes:
      - ./tyk.conf:/opt/tyk-gateway/tyk.conf
      - ./apps:/opt/tyk-gateway/apps
      - ./middleware:/opt/tyk-gateway/middleware
    ports:
      - "8080:8080"
    environment:
      TYK_GW_SECRET: supersecret
    depends_on: [tyk-redis]

  tyk-pump:
    image: tykio/tyk-pump-docker-pub:latest
    volumes:
      - ./pump.conf:/opt/tyk-pump/pump.conf
    depends_on: [tyk-redis]

// tyk.conf
{
  "listen_port": 8080,
  "secret": "supersecret",
  "template_path": "/opt/tyk-gateway/templates",
  "use_db_app_configs": false,
  "app_path": "/opt/tyk-gateway/apps/",
  "storage": {
    "type": "redis",
    "host": "tyk-redis",
    "port": 6379
  },
  "enable_analytics": true,
  "analytics_config": {
    "type": "rpc"
  },
  "health_check": {
    "enable_health_checks": true,
    "health_check_value_timeouts": 60
  },
  "optimisations_use_async_session_write": true
}

API Definition File

Each API is described by a JSON file in the apps/ directory:

// apps/users-api.json
{
  "name": "Users API",
  "api_id": "users-api",
  "slug": "users-api",
  "org_id": "default",
  "use_keyless": false,
  "auth": {
    "auth_header_name": "Authorization",
    "use_param": false
  },
  "definition": {
    "location": "header",
    "key": "x-api-version"
  },
  "version_data": {
    "not_versioned": true,
    "versions": {
      "Default": {
        "name": "Default",
        "use_extended_paths": true,
        "extended_paths": {
          "rate_limit": [
            {
              "path": "/",
              "method": "GET",
              "rate": 100,
              "per": 60
            }
          ],
          "transform": [
            {
              "path": "/users",
              "method": "POST",
              "template_data": {
                "template_mode": "blob",
                "blob": "eyJlbWFpbCI6ICJ7e3JlcXVlc3RfZGF0YS5lbWFpbH19In0="
              }
            }
          ]
        }
      }
    }
  },
  "proxy": {
    "listen_path": "/api/v1/users/",
    "target_url": "http://users-service:3000",
    "strip_listen_path": true
  },
  "rate_limit_and_quota_middleware": true
}

Key Management via API

# Create API key
curl -X POST http://localhost:8080/tyk/keys/create \
  -H "x-tyk-authorization: supersecret" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "alias": "mobile-app",
    "rate": 1000,
    "per": 60,
    "quota_max": 50000,
    "quota_renewal_rate": 86400,
    "access_rights": {
      "users-api": {
        "api_name": "Users API",
        "api_id": "users-api",
        "versions": ["Default"]
      }
    }
  }'

# Response contains key_id — share with developer

JavaScript Middleware

Tyk supports custom middleware in JavaScript (V8 engine):

// middleware/add-tenant-id.js
var addTenantId = new TykJS.TykMiddleware.NewMiddleware({})

addTenantId.NewProcessRequest(function(request, session, spec) {
  var tenantId = session.meta_data['tenant_id']
  request.SetHeaders['X-Tenant-ID'] = tenantId
  return TykJS.TykMiddleware.ReturnData(request, {})
})

// In API definition
"custom_middleware": {
  "pre": [
    {
      "name": "addTenantId",
      "path": "middleware/add-tenant-id.js",
      "require_session": true
    }
  ]
}

GraphQL Proxying

// apps/graphql-api.json
{
  "name": "GraphQL API",
  "graphql": {
    "enabled": true,
    "execution_mode": "proxyOnly",
    "schema": "type Query { user(id: ID!): User }\ntype User { id: ID name: String }",
    "version": "2",
    "proxy": {
      "auth_headers": {
        "Authorization": "Bearer internal-token"
      }
    },
    "type_field_configurations": [],
    "playground": {
      "enabled": true,
      "path": "/playground"
    }
  },
  "proxy": {
    "target_url": "http://graphql-service:4000/graphql"
  }
}

Analytics via Tyk Pump

// pump.conf
{
  "pumps": {
    "elasticsearch": {
      "type": "elasticsearch",
      "meta": {
        "index_name": "tyk_analytics",
        "elasticsearch_url": "http://elasticsearch:9200"
      }
    },
    "prometheus": {
      "type": "prometheus",
      "meta": {
        "listen_address": "0.0.0.0:9090"
      }
    }
  },
  "uptime_pump_config": {
    "collection_name": "tyk_uptime_analytics",
    "database_url": "mongodb://mongo:27017/tyk_analytics"
  },
  "analytics_storage_type": "redis",
  "analytics_storage_config": {
    "host": "tyk-redis"
  }
}

Differences from Kong

Timeline

Installing Tyk Gateway with Dashboard and basic API configuration — 2 business days. Full setup with middleware, analytics, and Developer Portal — 4–5 days.