What is Nantian Gateway
Nantian Gateway is a Kubernetes Gateway API implementation built as a split-plane gateway stack. The Go control plane watches Kubernetes resources, translates Gateway API and Nantian extension resources into internal routing state, reports status, and publishes runtime snapshots over gRPC/xDS. The Rust data plane receives those snapshots and handles live traffic.
Use Nantian Gateway when you want Kubernetes-native ingress and API routing with standard Gateway API resources, operational APIs, observability assets, and experimental extension points for AI and Wasm workloads.
What This Repository Set Contains
Section titled “What This Repository Set Contains”Nantian Gateway is split across several component repositories so each part can evolve with its own build, test, and release flow.
gateway/contains the Go control plane, Kubernetes reconcilers, translators, CRD manifests, admin API, and conformance tooling.dataplane/contains the Rust data plane workspace that receives runtime snapshots and serves traffic.helm-charts/packages the installable chart published fromhttps://charts.nantian.dev.dashboard/contains the web administration UI used by operators.website/contains this Astro/Starlight documentation site.proto/owns the shared protobuf contract used between components.
How It Works
Section titled “How It Works”Gateway API resources are the source of truth. Users create resources such as Gateway, HTTPRoute, GRPCRoute, TCPRoute, UDPRoute, TLSRoute, ReferenceGrant, and Gateway API policies. When experimental features are enabled, Nantian extension resources can participate in the same workflow.
Gateway API resources -> Go control plane -> internal snapshot -> gRPC/xDS -> Rust data plane -> backendsThe control plane watches Kubernetes resources, translates accepted objects into the runtime snapshot format, updates status conditions, and exposes admin and metrics endpoints for inspection. The data plane connects back to the control plane, receives snapshots over gRPC/xDS, and handles traffic on its runtime listener. The dashboard and admin APIs provide operator-facing visibility into the running system.
Stable And Experimental Capabilities
Section titled “Stable And Experimental Capabilities”Gateway API routing is the primary capability. Read Gateway API support through the Gateway API support page and the generated support declarations in the gateway repository instead of relying on broad marketing claims.
Nantian also includes experimental APIs:
AIServiceusesgateway.nantian.dev/v1alpha1and describes an AI provider/model target.TokenPolicyusesgateway.nantian.dev/v1alpha1and attaches token or request limits to local Gateway API targets.WasmPluginusesgateway.nantian.dev/v1alpha1and binds Wasm modules to target resources.BackendLBPolicyuses Gateway API experimentalgateway.networking.k8s.io/v1alpha2and configures backend load-balancing behavior.
Experimental features are disabled by default. Enable the relevant control plane and data plane feature flags before creating these resources, and expect schema or runtime behavior to change while the APIs are experimental.
Operator Surfaces
Section titled “Operator Surfaces”Helm is the recommended install path for users and operators. The chart installs the control plane, data plane, dashboard, services, RBAC, network policies, and a default GatewayClass named nantian-gw. Repository-local Kustomize overlays are also available for development and custom deployments.
The control plane exposes gRPC on 18080, the admin API on 18081, metrics on 18082, and health probes on 18083. The data plane listens for runtime HTTP traffic on 0.0.0.0:10080 and exposes admin and metrics services on 19080. The dashboard service listens on chart port 3000.
For day-two operations, start with Kubernetes pod status, GatewayClass status, route attachment status, control plane and data plane logs, Prometheus metrics, Grafana dashboards, and the admin APIs.