API7 The API Platform for Seamless Connection and Management

What is API7?

API7 offers a comprehensive API management solution developed by the original creators of Apache APISIX. It is designed to streamline the way organizations connect, manage, secure, and scale their APIs across on-premises, hybrid, and multi-cloud environments. The platform provides unified management capabilities for both north-south (client-to-service) and east-west (service-to-service) traffic, ensuring consistent governance and control over the entire API landscape.

Leveraging the power of Apache APISIX, API7 supports a wide array of Layer 7 (e.g., HTTP, WebSocket, gRPC, GraphQL) and Layer 4 protocols. It features an extensive library of over 100 plugins covering functionalities like request transformation, security enforcement, observability, and serverless integrations. API7 facilitates advanced deployment strategies such as canary releases and blue-green deployments, enhances service reliability through features like circuit breaking and rate limiting, and integrates smoothly with numerous open-source projects, SaaS products, and development tools via its Admin API and support for standards like OpenAPI.

Features

Unified Traffic Management: Handles both north-south and east-west traffic.
Multi-Protocol Support: Proxies, parses, and transcodes L7 (HTTP, gRPC, GraphQL, etc.) and L4 protocols.
Extensive Plugin Ecosystem: Offers 100+ plugins for transformation, security, observability, serverless, and more.
Advanced Deployment Governance: Supports canary releases, blue-green deployments, traffic splitting, circuit breaking, rate limiting, and health checks.
Broad Integration Capabilities: Integrates out-of-the-box with 100+ tools, supports GitOps, OpenAPI, and Gateway API.
AI Gateway Functionality: Specifically designed to manage AI Agents & LLM APIs.
Cross-Platform Deployment: Suitable for on-premises, hybrid, and multi-cloud environments.

Use Cases

Centralized API management across hybrid and multi-cloud infrastructure.
Managing microservices communication and traffic flow.
Implementing secure and controlled API access.
Enabling canary and blue-green deployment strategies for APIs.
Enhancing API observability and analytics.
Integrating diverse backend services and systems.
Managing and securing AI and LLM API endpoints.

FAQs

What is API7 built upon?

API7 is built upon the open-source Apache APISIX project by its original creators, extending its capabilities for enterprise use cases.
What types of API traffic can API7 manage?

API7 manages both north-south (client-to-service) and east-west (service-to-service) traffic, supporting Layer 7 protocols like HTTP, WebSocket, gRPC, and GraphQL, as well as Layer 4 protocols.
Does API7 offer features specifically for AI applications?

Yes, API7 includes an AI Gateway designed for managing AI Agents and Large Language Model (LLM) APIs, addressing unique challenges like token-based rate limiting.
Can API7 integrate with existing development tools?

Yes, API7 supports integration with GitOps and development tools via its Admin API and declarative CLI, and supports standards like OpenAPI and Gateway API.
Does API7 support multi-cloud deployments?

Yes, API7 is designed for cross-platform and multi-cloud deployment, allowing unified API management across various environments including on-premises, hybrid, and multiple clouds.