managing-kong

name	managing-kong
description	Use when working with Kong — kong Gateway management - service and route configuration, plugin management, upstream health monitoring, consumer and credential management. Use when managing API gateway infrastructure, configuring rate limiting, authentication, or troubleshooting upstream connectivity.
connection_type	kong
preload	false

Kong Gateway Management Skill

Manage Kong Gateway services, routes, plugins, upstreams, and consumers via the Admin API.

Core Helper Functions

#!/bin/bash

# Kong Admin API base URL
KONG_ADMIN="${KONG_ADMIN_URL:-http://localhost:8001}"

# Kong Admin API wrapper
kong_api() {
    local method="${1:-GET}"
    local endpoint="$2"
    shift 2
    curl -s -X "$method" "${KONG_ADMIN}${endpoint}" \
        -H "Content-Type: application/json" "$@" | jq '.'
}

# Paginated list helper
kong_list() {
    local endpoint="$1"
    local limit="${2:-100}"
    kong_api GET "${endpoint}?size=${limit}"
}

MANDATORY: Discovery-First Pattern

Always inspect the Kong instance and its configuration before performing operations.

Phase 1: Discovery

#!/bin/bash

echo "=== Kong Instance Info ==="
kong_api GET "/" | jq '{
    version: .version,
    hostname: .hostname,
    node_id: .node_id,
    database: .configuration.database,
    plugins: .plugins.available_on_server | keys
}'

echo ""
echo "=== Service Count ==="
kong_api GET "/services" | jq '{total: .data | length, services: [.data[] | {name, host, port, protocol, enabled}]}'

echo ""
echo "=== Route Count ==="
kong_api GET "/routes" | jq '{total: .data | length}'

echo ""
echo "=== Active Plugins ==="
kong_api GET "/plugins" | jq '[.data[] | {name, service: .service.id, route: .route.id, enabled}]'

echo ""
echo "=== Upstream Health ==="
kong_api GET "/upstreams" | jq '[.data[] | {name, slots, algorithm: .algorithm}]'

Output Rules

• TOKEN EFFICIENCY: Target <=50 lines per output
• Always pipe through jq to extract relevant fields
• Never dump full plugin configuration -- extract key settings only

Common Operations

Service and Route Management

#!/bin/bash

echo "=== Services with Routes ==="
for svc in $(kong_api GET "/services" | jq -r '.data[].id'); do
    kong_api GET "/services/${svc}" | jq '{id, name, host, port, protocol, path, enabled}'
    echo "  Routes:"
    kong_api GET "/services/${svc}/routes" | jq '[.data[] | {id, name, paths, methods, hosts, protocols}]'
done

echo ""
echo "=== Routeless Services (potential orphans) ==="
for svc_id in $(kong_api GET "/services" | jq -r '.data[].id'); do
    routes=$(kong_api GET "/services/${svc_id}/routes" | jq '.data | length')
    if [ "$routes" -eq 0 ]; then
        kong_api GET "/services/${svc_id}" | jq '{name, id, host}'
    fi
done

Plugin Configuration Analysis

#!/bin/bash

echo "=== Global Plugins ==="
kong_api GET "/plugins" | jq '[.data[] | select(.service == null and .route == null and .consumer == null) | {name, enabled, config_keys: (.config | keys)}]'

echo ""
echo "=== Rate Limiting Plugins ==="
kong_api GET "/plugins" | jq '[.data[] | select(.name | test("rate-limiting")) | {
    id, name, enabled,
    scope: (if .service then "service" elif .route then "route" else "global" end),
    minute: .config.minute,
    hour: .config.hour,
    policy: .config.policy
}]'

echo ""
echo "=== Auth Plugins ==="
kong_api GET "/plugins" | jq '[.data[] | select(.name | test("auth|jwt|oauth|key-auth|basic-auth")) | {name, enabled, scope: (if .service then "service" elif .route then "route" else "global" end)}]'

Upstream Health Monitoring

#!/bin/bash

echo "=== Upstream Health Status ==="
for upstream in $(kong_api GET "/upstreams" | jq -r '.data[].id'); do
    name=$(kong_api GET "/upstreams/${upstream}" | jq -r '.name')
    echo "--- Upstream: $name ---"
    kong_api GET "/upstreams/${upstream}/health" | jq '{
        total_targets: (.data | length),
        healthy: [.data[] | select(.health == "HEALTHY")] | length,
        unhealthy: [.data[] | select(.health == "UNHEALTHY")] | length,
        targets: [.data[] | {target, weight, health}]
    }'
done

echo ""
echo "=== Upstream Algorithms ==="
kong_api GET "/upstreams" | jq '[.data[] | {name, algorithm, hash_on, hash_fallback, slots}]'

Consumer and Credential Management

#!/bin/bash

echo "=== Consumers ==="
kong_api GET "/consumers" | jq '[.data[] | {id, username, custom_id, created_at}] | sort_by(.username)'

echo ""
echo "=== Consumer Credentials Summary ==="
for consumer in $(kong_api GET "/consumers" | jq -r '.data[].id' | head -20); do
    username=$(kong_api GET "/consumers/${consumer}" | jq -r '.username // .custom_id')
    key_auth=$(kong_api GET "/consumers/${consumer}/key-auth" | jq '.data | length')
    basic_auth=$(kong_api GET "/consumers/${consumer}/basic-auth" | jq '.data | length')
    jwt=$(kong_api GET "/consumers/${consumer}/jwt" | jq '.data | length')
    echo "${username}: key-auth=${key_auth} basic-auth=${basic_auth} jwt=${jwt}"
done

echo ""
echo "=== Consumer Groups ==="
kong_api GET "/consumer_groups" | jq '[.data[] | {name, id, created_at}]' 2>/dev/null || echo "Consumer groups not available"

Certificate and SNI Management

#!/bin/bash

echo "=== Certificates ==="
kong_api GET "/certificates" | jq '[.data[] | {
    id,
    snis: .snis,
    created_at,
    tags
}]'

echo ""
echo "=== SNIs ==="
kong_api GET "/snis" | jq '[.data[] | {name, certificate: .certificate.id}]'

Safety Rules

• Read-only by default: Only use GET requests for discovery and inspection
• Never delete services, routes, or plugins without explicit user confirmation
• Never expose API keys, JWT secrets, or basic-auth credentials in output
• Plugin ordering matters: Auth plugins run before rate-limiting; confirm order before changes
• Test in non-production first: Route or plugin changes can immediately affect live traffic

Output Format

Present results as a structured report:

Managing Kong Report
════════════════════
Resources discovered: [count]

Resource       Status    Key Metric    Issues
──────────────────────────────────────────────
[name]         [ok/warn] [value]       [findings]

Summary: [total] resources | [ok] healthy | [warn] warnings | [crit] critical
Action Items: [list of prioritized findings]

Target ≤50 lines of output. Use tables for multi-resource comparisons.

Anti-Hallucination Rules

1. NEVER assume resource names — always discover via CLI/API in Phase 1 before referencing in Phase 2.
2. NEVER fabricate metric names or dimensions — verify against the service documentation or --help output.
3. NEVER mix CLI commands between service versions — confirm which version/API you are targeting.
4. ALWAYS use the discovery → verify → analyze chain — every resource referenced must have been discovered first.
5. ALWAYS handle empty results gracefully — an empty response is valid data, not an error to retry.

Counter-Rationalizations

Shortcut	Counter	Why
"I'll skip discovery and check known resources"	Always run Phase 1 discovery first	Resource names change, new resources appear — assumed names cause errors
"The user only asked for a quick check"	Follow the full discovery → analysis flow	Quick checks miss critical issues; structured analysis catches silent failures
"Default configuration is probably fine"	Audit configuration explicitly	Defaults often leave logging, security, and optimization features disabled
"Metrics aren't needed for this"	Always check relevant metrics when available	API/CLI responses show current state; metrics reveal trends and intermittent issues
"I don't have access to that"	Try the command and report the actual error	Assumed permission failures prevent useful investigation; actual errors are informative

Common Pitfalls

• Missing routes: A service without routes receives no traffic; always verify route bindings
• Plugin precedence: Consumer-scoped plugins override route-scoped, which override service-scoped, which override global
• Upstream DNS: Kong caches DNS; TTL mismatches cause stale targets after scaling events
• DB vs DB-less mode: DB-less mode uses declarative config; Admin API writes are rejected
• Health check thresholds: Overly aggressive health checks can mark healthy targets as down during brief latency spikes