agentgateway
Agentgateway is an open-source proxy built on MCP and A2A protocols that provides security, observability, and governance for AI agent communication. It routes traffic between agents, LLMs, and tools while enforcing policy, rate limits, and authentication across any framework.
Key facts
Objective fields from the source. Values we can't verify are shown as “Unknown” rather than guessed.
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Repository | agentgateway/agentgateway |
| Owner | agentgateway |
| Primary language | Rust |
| License | Apache-2.0 — OSI-approved |
| Stars | 3.7k |
| Forks | 627 |
| Open issues | 290 |
| Latest release | v1.3.1 (2026-06-22) |
| Last updated | 2026-07-08 |
| Source | https://github.com/agentgateway/agentgateway |
What agentgateway is
A Rust-based agentic proxy supporting LLM gateway (multi-provider routing with spend controls), MCP gateway (tool federation via stdio/HTTP/SSE), A2A gateway (agent-to-agent), inference routing (K8s integration), guardrails (regex/moderation/webhooks), and observability (OpenTelemetry, JWT/API key/OAuth auth, CEL-based RBAC).
Get the agentgateway source
Clone the repository and explore it locally.
git clone https://github.com/agentgateway/agentgateway.gitcd agentgateway# follow the project's README for install & configurationNeed it deployed, integrated, or customized instead? DEV.co ships production installs.
Best use cases
Implementation considerations
- Rust-based binary with no managed SaaS offering; you own deployment, upgrades, and operational responsibility.
- Requires understanding of MCP protocol and agent communication patterns; not a drop-in proxy for arbitrary protocols.
- OpenTelemetry integration needed for observability; plan for backend (e.g., Prometheus, Jaeger, Datadog) to collect metrics and traces.
- RBAC via CEL policy engine requires policy authoring and testing; default-deny posture means explicit policy definition is mandatory.
- Active development (latest release v1.3.1 on 2026-06-22); expect API surface and behavior changes; review release notes for breaking changes.
When to avoid it — and what to weigh
- Simple Single-Agent, Single-LLM Setup — If you have a straightforward application with one agent and one LLM provider, the overhead of a dedicated gateway may not justify the complexity. Direct integration may be simpler.
- Latency-Critical, Sub-Millisecond Inference — Additional proxy hops introduce latency. If sub-millisecond response times are critical and you cannot tolerate an extra network round-trip, direct connections may be required.
- No Budget for Kubernetes or Production Monitoring — While standalone deployment is documented, the roadmap and community focus appear Kubernetes-centric. Organizations without K8s and observability infrastructure may find setup overhead high.
- Proprietary Agent Frameworks Without MCP Support — Agentgateway is built on open MCP and A2A protocols. If your agents use proprietary, non-standard communication protocols, integration may require custom work.
License & commercial use
Apache License 2.0 (SPDX: Apache-2.0). Permissive OSI-approved license. Allows use, modification, and distribution for commercial and proprietary purposes under Apache 2.0 terms.
Apache 2.0 explicitly permits commercial use. You may use agentgateway in commercial products, modify it, and redistribute it, provided you comply with Apache 2.0 terms (include license, state changes, provide NOTICE file). No warranty or indemnification; review Apache 2.0 full text for liability disclaimers. No commercial support vendor evident in provided data; requires review of ecosystem for SLAs and support contracts.
DEV.co evaluation signals
Editorial assessment — not user reviews. Directional, with an explicit confidence level.
| Signal | Assessment |
|---|---|
| Maintenance | Active |
| Documentation | Strong |
| License clarity | Clear |
| Deployment complexity | Moderate |
| DEV.co fit | Good |
| Assessment confidence | High |
Agentgateway provides security mechanisms: JWT/API key/OAuth authentication, fine-grained RBAC with CEL policy engine, TLS support, content filtering (regex, moderation APIs, guardrails), and rate limiting. No independent security audit data provided. As a network proxy handling credentials and LLM traffic, treat it as critical infrastructure: isolate in network, audit access logs, rotate credentials regularly, monitor for abuse, and keep dependencies patched. Being Rust-based reduces memory-safety attack surface vs. managed languages, but is not a guarantee of security.
Alternatives to consider
Kong API Gateway + Custom Agent Layer
General-purpose API gateway with plugin ecosystem; requires custom MCP and agent support layers. More mature in operations but not agent-native.
LiteLLM Proxy
Lightweight Python-based LLM routing proxy. Simpler for LLM-only use cases but lacks agent-to-agent, MCP federation, and K8s-native governance features.
Self-Hosted LLM Routing (Custom)
Build your own routing logic in Python/Go/Node. Maximum control but high maintenance burden, no standardized observability or security patterns, and slower time-to-market.
Build on agentgateway with DEV.co software developers
Agentgateway is production-ready for teams building multi-agent systems with policy and cost controls. Review the quickstart, join the Discord community, and evaluate fit for your architecture.
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agentgateway FAQ
Do I need Kubernetes to use agentgateway?
What LLM providers does agentgateway support?
Is there commercial support or SLA?
Can I use agentgateway with my existing agent framework?
Custom software development services
Need help beyond evaluating agentgateway? DEV.co is a software development agency offering software development services and web development for teams of every size. Our software developers and web developers build custom software, web applications, APIs, and mcp servers integrations — and maintain them long-term.
Ready to Build Agent Infrastructure?
Agentgateway is production-ready for teams building multi-agent systems with policy and cost controls. Review the quickstart, join the Discord community, and evaluate fit for your architecture.