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Router

HTTP Router

An HTTP router is in charge of connecting incoming requests to the services that can handle them. Routers analyze incoming requests based on rules, and when a match is found, forward the request through any configured middlewares to the appropriate service.

Configuration Example

http:
  routers:
    my-router:
      entryPoints:
        - "web"
        - "websecure"
      rule: "Host(`example.com`) && Path(`/api`)"
      priority: 10
      middlewares:
        - "auth"
        - "ratelimit"
      tls:
        certResolver: "letsencrypt"
        options: "modern"
        domains:
          - main: "example.com"
            sans:
              - "www.example.com"
      observability:
        metrics: true
        accessLogs: true
        tracing: true
      service: my-service
[http.routers]
  [http.routers.my-router]
    entryPoints = ["web", "websecure"]
    rule = "Host(`example.com`) && Path(`/api`)"
    priority = 10
    middlewares = ["auth", "ratelimit"]
    service = "my-service"

    [http.routers.my-router.tls]
      certResolver = "letsencrypt"
      options = "modern"

      [[http.routers.my-router.tls.domains]]
        main = "example.com"
        sans = ["www.example.com"]

    [http.routers.my-router.observability]
      metrics = true
      accessLogs = true
      tracing = true
labels:
  - "traefik.http.routers.my-router.entrypoints=web,websecure"
  - "traefik.http.routers.my-router.rule=Host(`example.com`) && Path(`/api`)"
  - "traefik.http.routers.my-router.priority=10"
  - "traefik.http.routers.my-router.middlewares=auth,ratelimit"
  - "traefik.http.routers.my-router.service=my-service"
  - "traefik.http.routers.my-router.tls.certresolver=letsencrypt"
  - "traefik.http.routers.my-router.tls.options=modern"
  - "traefik.http.routers.my-router.tls.domains[0].main=example.com"
  - "traefik.http.routers.my-router.tls.domains[0].sans=www.example.com"
  - "traefik.http.routers.my-router.observability.metrics=true"
  - "traefik.http.routers.my-router.observability.accessLogs=true"
  - "traefik.http.routers.my-router.observability.tracing=true"
{
  "Tags": [
    "traefik.http.routers.my-router.entrypoints=web,websecure",
    "traefik.http.routers.my-router.rule=Host(`example.com`) && Path(`/api`)",
    "traefik.http.routers.my-router.priority=10",
    "traefik.http.routers.my-router.middlewares=auth,ratelimit",
    "traefik.http.routers.my-router.service=my-service",
    "traefik.http.routers.my-router.tls.certresolver=letsencrypt",
    "traefik.http.routers.my-router.tls.options=modern",
    "traefik.http.routers.my-router.tls.domains[0].main=example.com",
    "traefik.http.routers.my-router.tls.domains[0].sans=www.example.com",
    "traefik.http.routers.my-router.observability.metrics=true",
    "traefik.http.routers.my-router.observability.accessLogs=true",
    "traefik.http.routers.my-router.observability.tracing=true"
  ]
}

Configuration Options

Field Description Default Required
entryPoints The list of entry points to which the router is attached. If not specified, HTTP routers are attached to all entry points. All entry points No
rule Rules are a set of matchers configured with values, that determine if a particular request matches specific criteria. If the rule is verified, the router becomes active, calls middlewares, and then forwards the request to the service. See Rules & Priority for details. Yes
priority To avoid path overlap, routes are sorted, by default, in descending order using rules length. The priority is directly equal to the length of the rule, and so the longest length has the highest priority. A value of 0 for the priority is ignored. See Rules & Priority for details. Rule length No
middlewares The list of middlewares that are applied to the router. Middlewares are applied in the order they are declared. See Middlewares overview for available middlewares. No
tls TLS configuration for the router. When specified, the router will only handle HTTPS requests. No
tls.certResolver The name of the certificate resolver to use for automatic certificate generation. See Certificate Resolver for details. No
tls.options The name of the TLS options to use for configuring TLS parameters (cipher suites, min/max TLS version, client authentication, etc.). See TLS Options for detailed configuration. default No
tls.domains List of domains and Subject Alternative Names (SANs) for explicit certificate domain specification. When using ACME certificate resolvers, domains are automatically extracted from router rules, making this option optional. No
observability Observability configuration for the router. Allows fine-grained control over access logs, metrics, and tracing per router. See Observability for details. Inherited from entry points No
service The name of the service that will handle the matched requests. Services can be load balancer services, weighted round robin, mirroring, or failover services. See Service for details. Yes

Router Naming

  • The character @ is not authorized in the router name
  • In provider-specific configurations (Docker, Kubernetes), router names are often auto-generated based on service names and rules

Using Traefik OSS in Production?

If you are using Traefik at work, consider adding enterprise-grade API gateway capabilities or commercial support for Traefik OSS.

Adding API Gateway capabilities to Traefik OSS is fast and seamless. There's no rip and replace and all configurations remain intact. See it in action via this short video.