Ingress Controller Documentation
API7 Ingress Controller works with API7 Enterprise, while APISIX Ingress Controller works with the open-source APISIX gateway.
The controllers share the resource APIs, usage patterns, and feature designs described in this documentation. Installation and connection details differ between the two products.
Introduction
API7 / APISIX Ingress Controller (AIC) is a Kubernetes Ingress Controller that converts Kubernetes resources—such as Ingress, Gateway API, and APISIX custom CRDs—into configurations for API7 / APISIX gateways. It enables declarative management of routing, SSL, plugins, upstreams, and other gateway resources directly from Kubernetes.
You should use AIC if any of the following apply:
- You are deploying APISIX or API7 Gateways in a Kubernetes environment.
- You want a fully Kubernetes-native experience for managing your API Gateway.
Supported Resources
AIC supports the following Kubernetes resources:
- Gateway API 1.6 is a modern, extensible Kubernetes-native API for traffic management. The controllers support multiple listeners, HTTP, gRPC, TCP, UDP, and TLS routes, downstream mTLS, and richer traffic policies. See Ingress and Gateway API Support for field-level support.
- Ingress is the legacy Kubernetes-native API for basic HTTP/S routing to backend services. It does not support all advanced configurations available in Gateway API or APISIX CRDs.
- APISIX CRDs provide fine-grained control over routing, plugins, upstreams, and other gateway features.
L4RoutePolicyattaches stream plugins to Gateway API TCP, UDP, and TLS routes.
Resources supported by the installed controller can coexist within the same Kubernetes cluster. Confirm that the installed product release supports a resource or field before applying its manifest. Some features are available only through specific resource types, so avoid configuration conflicts when using multiple resources together.
The diagram below illustrates how the Ingress Controller combines standard Gateway API resources with custom resources to define routing, traffic policies, and gateway behavior within a Kubernetes environment:
How AIC Processes Kubernetes Resources
AIC translates Ingress, Gateway API, and APISIX CRD resources into internal ADC YAML, then synchronizes that configuration to the gateway.
APISIX Ingress Controller vs API7 Ingress Controller
The controllers share the Kubernetes resource APIs and capabilities described in this documentation. They differ in how they connect to and deploy with their respective gateways, including namespaces, upstream service configuration, and GatewayProxy connection settings.
Deployment Architectures
The architectural diagrams below use a single-controller topology to illustrate the different deployment modes of API7 and APISIX Ingress Controller.
API7 Ingress Controller
API7 Ingress Controller supports a single deployment mode, in which the controller communicates directly with the API7 Control Plane (API7 Dashboard).
APISIX Ingress Controller
APISIX Ingress Controller supports two deployment modes: standalone and traditional.
Standalone Mode
The standalone mode is recommended over the traditional mode (with etcd). It is designed to address the stability issues that can arise when running APISIX and etcd inside Kubernetes.
Traditional Mode
In the traditional deployment mode, APISIX uses etcd as its configuration center.
