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API Gateway for outgoing Traffic

This sample shows how to set up Membrane to act as an outgoing API gateway that sits between internal services and external APIs as a controlled exit point for API requests.

By routing all outgoing API traffic through an API Gateway, organizations gain visibility and control over what data leaves the internal network.

Why Use an Outgoing Gateway?

An outgoing gateway enables:

  • Client authentication
    Ensure only authorized internal clients access external APIs.

  • Centralized logging and auditing
    Track who accessed which API and when.

  • Message validation
    Control the data leaving and entering your organization.

  • Protection against malicious payloads
    Validate and filter JSON and XML to reduce security risks.

However, outgoing gateways must behave differently from gateways handling inbound traffic. For example:

  • X-Forwarded-For must not be set, to avoid leaking internal IPs.
  • Sensitive headers like Authorization, User-Agent, and API keys must be carefully filtered.

This example demonstrates a secure default configuration for such scenarios.

Running the Example

  1. Navigate to the examples/routing-traffic/outgoing-api-gateway directory.

  2. Start Membrane by executing membrane.sh (Linux/Mac) or membrane.cmd (Windows).

  3. Execute the following requests (alternatively, use the requests.http file):

    curl -v http://localhost:2000 -H "X-Api-Key: abc123" -H "User-Agent: secret" -H "Authorization: secret"

  4. Take a look at the proxies.xml configuration.

Combining with other Membrane features

You can extend this setup with additional Membrane capabilities:

  • Logging of requests and responses
  • Request and response message validation
  • Basic, API Key, JWT or OAuth2 authentication
  • JSON and XML protection
  • Rate limiting and quotas
  • Message rewriting or transformation
  • Data loss protection
  • ...