traefik

name	traefik
description	Reverse proxy, load balancer, and ingress controller — dynamic routing, TLS automation, middleware chains, and integration with Docker, Kubernetes, and file-based providers.
author	Hermes Profiles
license	MIT

Traefik

When to Load

Load this skill when the task involves configuring Traefik as a reverse proxy or ingress controller — setting up routers, middlewares, TLS certificates, service discovery via Docker labels or Kubernetes CRDs, or debugging traffic routing.

Core Concepts

Architecture

Traefik uses dynamic routing: entrypoints (ports) → routers (URL rules + middleware chains) → services (backend load balancing). Configuration comes from providers (Docker, Kubernetes, file, Consul, etc.) and can change without a restart.

Key Objects

• Entrypoints: Network listeners — web (HTTP :80), websecure (HTTPS :443), traefik (dashboard :8080). Can define additional for specific services (metrics, TCP, UDP)
• Routers: Match rules (Host(\example.com`) && PathPrefix(`/api`)), protocol (HTTP, HTTPS, TCP, UDP), set tls:` for HTTPS, attach middleware chain, reference backend service
• Middlewares: Processing pipeline — redirectScheme (HTTP → HTTPS), rateLimit, basicAuth/digestAuth/forwardAuth, addPrefix/stripPrefix, headers (CORS, security headers), retry, circuitBreaker, compress, replacePath, ipWhiteList, errorPage
• Services: Load balancer config — servers with URLs/ports, health checks (interval, timeout, path), sticky sessions, circuit breakers, mirroring (traffic shadow for testing)

Provider Patterns

• Docker provider: Labels on containers — traefik.enable=true, traefik.http.routers.app.rule=Host(\app.example.com`), traefik.http.services.app.loadbalancer.server.port=8080`. Hot-reloaded on container start/stop automatically
• Kubernetes provider: Standard Ingress (limited) or IngressRoute CRD (full Traefik features), CRD for Middleware, TLS options, ServersTransport resources
• File provider: YAML/TOML/JSON config file, useful for static services and dynamic config not covered by other providers. TOML deprecated in v3 in favor of YAML
• Consul / etcd / Redis / ZooKeeper providers: Key-value stores for config — less common but useful for distributed environments without K8s

TLS Automation

• Let's Encrypt via ACME — certificatesResolvers.myresolver.acme with httpChallenge or dnsChallenge (for wildcards, behind load balancers, private networks)
• dnsChallenge requires provider credentials (AWS Route53, Cloudflare, GCP Cloud DNS, etc.) — more setup but more flexible
• Certificate storage (local file or KV store), SAN tracking, wildcard cert renewal

Dashboard

• Exposed on Traefik entrypoint — api.dashboard=true, secured via basicAuth or forwardAuth middleware. Shows routers, services, middlewares, providers, health.
• Metrics: Prometheus (metrics.prometheus), OpenTelemetry, Datadog, InfluxDB, StatsD

Pitfalls

• Middleware ordering matters: Middleware chain executes left to right. Put rateLimit before auth to avoid auth-d DoS. Put redirectScheme first to redirect before processing headers.
• Docker provider scoping: By default Traefik sees all containers on the same network. Use --providers.docker.exposedByDefault=false and explicit traefik.enable=true labels.
• TCP vs HTTP routers: TCP routers cannot use HTTP middlewares (headers, redirect). For TCP services with TLS, configure TLS termination at the router level.
• Host rule vs TLS: Host(\app.example.com`)` in router matches the Host header. If the request goes to the IP, the Host header may not match — access via configured domain only.
• Dashboard not accessible without auth: api.insecure=true is for dev only. Always pair dashboard with basicAuth or forwardAuth middleware on the api@internal service.