Gateway API v1.0: GA Release

Authors: Shane Utt (Kong), Nick Young (Isovalent), Rob Scott (Google)

On behalf of Kubernetes SIG Network, we are pleased to announce the v1.0 release of Gateway API! This release marks a huge milestone for this project. Several key APIs are graduating to GA (generally available), while other significant features have been added to the Experimental channel.

What's new

Graduation to v1

This release includes the graduation of Gateway, GatewayClass, and HTTPRoute to v1, which means they are now generally available (GA). This API version denotes a high level of confidence in the API surface and provides guarantees of backwards compatibility. Note that although, the version of these APIs included in the Standard channel are now considered stable, that does not mean that they are complete. These APIs will continue to receive new features via the Experimental channel as they meet graduation criteria. For more information on how all of this works, refer to the Gateway API Versioning Policy.

Gateway API now has a logo! This logo was designed through a collaborative process, and is intended to represent the idea that this is a set of Kubernetes APIs for routing traffic both north-south and east-west:

Gateway API Logo

CEL Validation

Historically, Gateway API has bundled a validating webhook as part of installing the API. Starting in v1.0, webhook installation is optional and only recommended for Kubernetes 1.24. Gateway API now includes CEL validation rules as part of the CRDs. This new form of validation is supported in Kubernetes 1.25+, and thus the validating webhook is no longer required in most installations.

Standard channel

This release was primarily focused on ensuring that the existing beta APIs were well defined and sufficiently stable to graduate to GA. That led to a variety of spec clarifications, as well as some improvements to status to improve the overall UX when interacting with Gateway API.

Experimental channel

Most of the changes included in this release were limited to the experimental channel. These include HTTPRoute timeouts, TLS config from Gateways to backends, WebSocket support, Gateway infrastructure labels, and more. Stay tuned for a follow up blog post that will cover each of these new features in detail.

Everything else

For a full list of the changes included in this release, please refer to the v1.0.0 release notes.

How we got here

The idea of Gateway API was initially proposed 4 years ago at KubeCon San Diego as the next generation of Ingress API. Since then, an incredible community has formed to develop what has likely become the most collaborative API in Kubernetes history. Over 170 people have contributed to this API so far, and that number continues to grow.

A special thank you to the 20+ community members who agreed to take on an official role in the project, providing some time for reviews and sharing the load of maintaining the project!

We especially want to highlight the emeritus maintainers that played a pivotal role in the early development of this project:

Try it out

Unlike other Kubernetes APIs, you don't need to upgrade to the latest version of Kubernetes to get the latest version of Gateway API. As long as you're running one of the 5 most recent minor versions of Kubernetes (1.24+), you'll be able to get up and running with the latest version of Gateway API.

To try out the API, follow our Getting Started guide.

What's next

This release is just the beginning of a much larger journey for Gateway API, and there are still plenty of new features and new ideas in flight for future releases of the API.

One of our key goals going forward is to work to stabilize and graduate other experimental features of the API. These include support for service mesh, additional route types (GRPCRoute, TCPRoute, TLSRoute, UDPRoute), and a variety of experimental features.

We've also been working towards moving ReferenceGrant into a built-in Kubernetes API that can be used for more than just Gateway API. Within Gateway API, we've used this resource to safely enable cross-namespace references, and that concept is now being adopted by other SIGs. The new version of this API will be owned by SIG Auth and will likely include at least some modifications as it migrates to a built-in Kubernetes API.

Gateway API at KubeCon + CloudNativeCon

At KubeCon North America (Chicago) and the adjacent Contributor Summit there are several talks related to Gateway API that will go into more detail on these topics. If you're attending either of these events this year, considering adding these to your schedule.

Contributor Summit:

KubeCon Main Event:

KubeCon Office Hours:

Gateway API maintainers will be holding office hours sessions at KubeCon if you'd like to discuss or brainstorm any related topics. To get the latest updates on these sessions, join the #sig-network-gateway-api channel on Kubernetes Slack.

Get involved

We've only barely scratched the surface of what's in flight with Gateway API. There are lots of opportunities to get involved and help define the future of Kubernetes routing APIs for both Ingress and Mesh.

If this is interesting to you, please join us in the community and help us build the future of Gateway API together!