NGINX
NGINX is a high-performance open-source web server, reverse proxy, and API gateway widely used for load balancing, SSL termination, caching, and traffic management for APIs and microservices. Originally written by Igor Sysoev and released under the 2-clause BSD license, NGINX powers a significant portion of the world's web traffic. Enterprise support and commercial features are available from F5, Inc.
Real signal across most facets with visible, nameable gaps — the contract exists but is thin, or the portal is good while governance and commercial terms are absent.
API Evangelist profiles NGINX the way a machine reads it — 236 machine-readable artifacts across 32 APIs, pulled from the provider's own public surface and indexed so a developer, an analyst, or an AI agent can evaluate it against every other provider on the network.
Every provider in the network is reduced to the same set of machine-readable artifacts — OpenAPI contracts, event specifications, GraphQL schemas, runnable collections, pricing and rate-limit signals, security posture, OAuth scopes, and the agent surfaces (MCP servers and skills) that let software drive the API on its own. We profile them because the interface is the part of a company you can actually inspect: it is a truer signal of what a provider does than any marketing page. From those artifacts we compute the Kin Score — NGINX scores 59.0/100 (developing), with a separate agent-readiness read of 57/100 (agent ready). The full breakdown is below, followed by every artifact we hold — each card links through to its machine-readable definition on apis.io.
Kin Score
This is the API Evangelist rating — a single, repeatable read computed from the artifacts on this page. Green fill is points earned; the red track is points possible, so every bar shows earned-versus-possible at a glance.
Kin Score
How this is scored →scored 2026-07-27 · rubric v0.5
How we profile NGINX
Each block below is one kind of artifact we hold for NGINX. For each we say what it is and why it earns a place in the profile, then list every one we've indexed — capped at two rows, scroll within the panel for the rest.
APIs 32
Each API is captured as its own OpenAPI definition — every operation, parameter, and response. This is the single most useful machine-readable description of what an API does, and it's what lets us score, lint, mock, and generate against it without asking the provider for anything.
Individual APIs this provider publishes, each with its own machine-readable definition.
NGINX
NGINX is a versatile open-source software for web serving, reverse proxying, caching, load balancing, media streaming, and API gateway functionality powering a significant porti...
NGINX Ingress Controller
The NGINX Ingress Controller is a Kubernetes-native ingress controller built on NGINX that manages external access to services in a Kubernetes cluster. It supports TLS terminati...
NGINX Gateway Fabric
NGINX Gateway Fabric is a Kubernetes Gateway API implementation using NGINX as the data plane. It provides standards-based traffic management through Gateway API resources inclu...
NGINX Agent
NGINX Agent provides an administrative entry point to remotely manage, configure, and collect metrics and events from NGINX instances. It enables centralized management of distr...
NGINX Connections API
The Connections API from NGINX — 1 operation(s) for connections.
NGINX General Info API
The General Info API from NGINX — 2 operation(s) for general info.
NGINX HTTP API
The HTTP API from NGINX — 1 operation(s) for http.
NGINX HTTP Caches API
The HTTP Caches API from NGINX — 2 operation(s) for http caches.
NGINX HTTP Keyvals API
The HTTP Keyvals API from NGINX — 2 operation(s) for http keyvals.
NGINX HTTP Limit Conns API
The HTTP Limit Conns API from NGINX — 2 operation(s) for http limit conns.
NGINX HTTP Limit Reqs API
The HTTP Limit Reqs API from NGINX — 2 operation(s) for http limit reqs.
NGINX HTTP Location Zones API
The HTTP Location Zones API from NGINX — 2 operation(s) for http location zones.
NGINX HTTP Requests API
The HTTP Requests API from NGINX — 1 operation(s) for http requests.
NGINX HTTP Server Zones API
The HTTP Server Zones API from NGINX — 2 operation(s) for http server zones.
NGINX HTTP Upstreams API
The HTTP Upstreams API from NGINX — 4 operation(s) for http upstreams.
NGINX License API
The License API from NGINX — 1 operation(s) for license.
NGINX Method DELETE API
The Method DELETE API from NGINX — 21 operation(s) for method delete.
NGINX Method GET API
The Method GET API from NGINX — 41 operation(s) for method get.
NGINX Method PATCH API
The Method PATCH API from NGINX — 4 operation(s) for method patch.
NGINX Method POST API
The Method POST API from NGINX — 4 operation(s) for method post.
NGINX Processes API
The Processes API from NGINX — 1 operation(s) for processes.
NGINX Resolvers API
The Resolvers API from NGINX — 2 operation(s) for resolvers.
NGINX Slabs API
The Slabs API from NGINX — 2 operation(s) for slabs.
NGINX SSL API
The SSL API from NGINX — 1 operation(s) for ssl.
NGINX Status API
The Status API from NGINX — 1 operation(s) for status.
NGINX Stream API
The Stream API from NGINX — 1 operation(s) for stream.
NGINX Stream Keyvals API
The Stream Keyvals API from NGINX — 2 operation(s) for stream keyvals.
NGINX Stream Limit Conns API
The Stream Limit Conns API from NGINX — 2 operation(s) for stream limit conns.
NGINX Stream Server Zones API
The Stream Server Zones API from NGINX — 2 operation(s) for stream server zones.
NGINX Stream Upstreams API
The Stream Upstreams API from NGINX — 4 operation(s) for stream upstreams.
NGINX Stream Zone Sync API
The Stream Zone Sync API from NGINX — 1 operation(s) for stream zone sync.
NGINX Workers API
The Workers API from NGINX — 2 operation(s) for workers.
Scroll within the panel for all 32 ·
MCP Servers 1
Model Context Protocol servers expose these APIs directly to AI agents. We profile them because agent-native access is the fastest-growing way this provider's capabilities actually get used.
Model Context Protocol servers that expose these APIs to AI agents.
MCP Server
MCP SERVERPricing Plans 1
Pricing is part of the interface. Machine-readable plans tell you what a tier costs and includes before you commit — one of the six things the Kin Score reads for commercial clarity.
Published pricing tiers and plan structures.
Nginx Plans Pricing
PLANSRate Limits 1
Rate limits are the difference between a demo that works and a production integration that doesn't fall over. Publishing them is an operational-transparency signal — and a hard requirement for any agent that plans its own throughput.
Documented rate limits and quota policies.
Nginx Rate Limits
RATE LIMITSFinOps 1
Cost, billing, and metering signals let a buyer model the financial operations of an API before it's live. We profile them for the same reason we profile pricing: the money is part of the contract.
Cost, billing, and metering signals for API financial operations.
Nginx Finops
FINOPSFeatures 12
The notable capabilities this provider advertises, captured as structured features so they can be searched and compared instead of read one landing page at a time.
Notable capabilities this provider offers.
HTTP Web Server
High-performance HTTP and HTTPS server with support for HTTP/1.1, HTTP/2, HTTP/3, and early hints (103).
Reverse Proxy
Forward client requests to backend application servers with load balancing, buffering, and caching.
Load Balancing
Distribute traffic across upstream servers using round-robin, least-connections, IP hash, and sticky session algorithms.
SSL/TLS Termination
Terminate and offload SSL/TLS connections at the proxy layer with support for SNI, OCSP stapling, and encrypted client hello.
Content Caching
Cache responses from upstream servers to reduce backend load and improve response times.
gRPC Proxying
Route and load balance gRPC traffic to backend services.
WebSocket Support
Proxy WebSocket connections for real-time bidirectional communication.
TCP/UDP Proxy
Stream module for proxying and load balancing arbitrary TCP and UDP traffic.
Mail Proxy
Proxy IMAP, POP3, and SMTP mail protocols with authentication support.
Dynamic Modules
Extend functionality at runtime through loadable modules without recompiling.
njs Scripting
Embed JavaScript logic for custom request handling, access control, and content filtering.
OpenTelemetry
Built-in OpenTelemetry module for distributed tracing and observability.
Scroll within the panel for all 12 ·
Semantic Vocabularies 2
JSON-LD contexts give the data shared meaning across APIs. We profile them because semantics are what let a machine reconcile 'customer' here with 'customer' somewhere else.
JSON-LD contexts and semantic vocabularies used across these APIs.
Nginx Context
JSON-LDNginx Plus Http Api Context
JSON-LDSpectral Rules 2
Governance rulesets we run against this provider's specs — the automated checks behind parts of the score. Profiling them makes the quality bar explicit and re-runnable, not a matter of opinion.
NGINX API Rules
SPECTRALNGINX API Rules
SPECTRALJSON Schema 58
Standalone JSON Schema definitions describe the data models behind the API. We profile them so the shapes are validatable on their own — useful long after a single request is forgotten.
Standalone JSON Schema definitions for this provider's data models.
Headers
JSON SCHEMAHttpRequest
JSON SCHEMANgx
JSON SCHEMANgxShared
JSON SCHEMAPeriodicSession
JSON SCHEMARequest
JSON SCHEMAResponse
JSON SCHEMASharedDict
JSON SCHEMAStreamSession
JSON SCHEMAArray
JSON SCHEMAConnections
JSON SCHEMAError
JSON SCHEMAHTTP Cache
JSON SCHEMAHTTP Caches
JSON SCHEMAHTTP Keyval Shared Memory Zone
JSON SCHEMAHTTP Keyval Shared Memory Zone
JSON SCHEMAHTTP Keyval Shared Memory Zones
JSON SCHEMAHTTP Connections Limiting
JSON SCHEMAHTTP limit_conns
JSON SCHEMAHTTP Requests Rate Limiting
JSON SCHEMAHTTP limit_reqs
JSON SCHEMAHTTP Location Zone
JSON SCHEMAHTTP Location Zones
JSON SCHEMAHTTP Requests
JSON SCHEMAHTTP Server Zone
JSON SCHEMAHTTP Server Zones
JSON SCHEMAHTTP Upstream Servers
JSON SCHEMAHTTP Upstream Server
JSON SCHEMAHTTP Upstreams
JSON SCHEMAHTTP Upstream Servers
JSON SCHEMAHTTP Upstream Server
JSON SCHEMAHTTP Upstream
JSON SCHEMALicense
JSON SCHEMAnginx
JSON SCHEMAProcesses
JSON SCHEMAResolver Zone
JSON SCHEMAResolver Zones
JSON SCHEMASlab Zones
JSON SCHEMAShared memory zone with slab allocator
JSON SCHEMAMemory Slot
JSON SCHEMASSL
JSON SCHEMAStream Keyval Shared Memory Zone
JSON SCHEMAStream Keyval Shared Memory Zone
JSON SCHEMAStream Keyval Shared Memory Zones
JSON SCHEMAStream Connections Limiting
JSON SCHEMAStream limit_conns
JSON SCHEMAStream Server Zone
JSON SCHEMAStream Server Zones
JSON SCHEMAStream Upstream Servers
JSON SCHEMAStream Upstream Server
JSON SCHEMAStream Upstreams
JSON SCHEMAStream Upstream Servers
JSON SCHEMAStream Upstream Server
JSON SCHEMAStream Upstream
JSON SCHEMAStream Zone Sync Node
JSON SCHEMASync Zone
JSON SCHEMAWorker process
JSON SCHEMAWorker processes
JSON SCHEMAScroll within the panel for all 58 ·
JSON Structure 58
JSON Structure captures the data shapes in a form built for tooling — a complement to JSON Schema that keeps the model machine-legible.
JSON Structure definitions describing this provider's data shapes.
Njs Headers Structure
JSON STRUCTURENjs Http Request Structure
JSON STRUCTURENjs Ngx Shared Structure
JSON STRUCTURENjs Ngx Structure
JSON STRUCTURENjs Periodic Session Structure
JSON STRUCTURENjs Request Structure
JSON STRUCTURENjs Response Structure
JSON STRUCTURENjs Shared Dict Structure
JSON STRUCTURENjs Stream Session Structure
JSON STRUCTUREPlus Http Api Array Of Strings Structure
JSON STRUCTUREPlus Http Api Nginx Connections Structure
JSON STRUCTUREPlus Http Api Nginx Error Structure
JSON STRUCTUREPlus Http Api Nginx Http Cache Structure
JSON STRUCTUREPlus Http Api Nginx Http Caches Map Structure
JSON STRUCTUREPlus Http Api Nginx Http Keyval Zone Structure
JSON STRUCTUREPlus Http Api Nginx Http Keyval Zones Map Structure
JSON STRUCTUREPlus Http Api Nginx Http Limit Conn Zone Structure
JSON STRUCTUREPlus Http Api Nginx Http Limit Conn Zones Map Structure
JSON STRUCTUREPlus Http Api Nginx Http Limit Req Zone Structure
JSON STRUCTUREPlus Http Api Nginx Http Limit Req Zones Map Structure
JSON STRUCTUREPlus Http Api Nginx Http Location Zone Structure
JSON STRUCTUREPlus Http Api Nginx Http Location Zones Map Structure
JSON STRUCTUREPlus Http Api Nginx Http Requests Structure
JSON STRUCTUREPlus Http Api Nginx Http Server Zone Structure
JSON STRUCTUREPlus Http Api Nginx Http Server Zones Map Structure
JSON STRUCTUREPlus Http Api Nginx Http Upstream Conf Server Structure
JSON STRUCTUREPlus Http Api Nginx Http Upstream Map Structure
JSON STRUCTUREPlus Http Api Nginx Http Upstream Peer Map Structure
JSON STRUCTUREPlus Http Api Nginx Http Upstream Peer Structure
JSON STRUCTUREPlus Http Api Nginx Http Upstream Structure
JSON STRUCTUREPlus Http Api Nginx License Object Structure
JSON STRUCTUREPlus Http Api Nginx Object Structure
JSON STRUCTUREPlus Http Api Nginx Processes Structure
JSON STRUCTUREPlus Http Api Nginx Resolver Zone Structure
JSON STRUCTUREPlus Http Api Nginx Resolver Zones Map Structure
JSON STRUCTUREPlus Http Api Nginx Slab Zone Map Structure
JSON STRUCTUREPlus Http Api Nginx Slab Zone Slot Structure
JSON STRUCTUREPlus Http Api Nginx Slab Zone Structure
JSON STRUCTUREPlus Http Api Nginx Ssl Object Structure
JSON STRUCTUREPlus Http Api Nginx Stream Keyval Zone Structure
JSON STRUCTUREPlus Http Api Nginx Stream Keyval Zones Map Structure
JSON STRUCTUREPlus Http Api Nginx Stream Limit Conn Zone Structure
JSON STRUCTUREPlus Http Api Nginx Stream Server Zone Structure
JSON STRUCTUREPlus Http Api Nginx Stream Server Zones Map Structure
JSON STRUCTUREPlus Http Api Nginx Stream Upstream Map Structure
JSON STRUCTUREPlus Http Api Nginx Stream Upstream Peer Map Structure
JSON STRUCTUREPlus Http Api Nginx Stream Upstream Peer Structure
JSON STRUCTUREPlus Http Api Nginx Stream Upstream Structure
JSON STRUCTUREPlus Http Api Nginx Stream Zone Sync Structure
JSON STRUCTUREPlus Http Api Nginx Stream Zone Sync Zone Structure
JSON STRUCTUREPlus Http Api Nginx Worker Structure
JSON STRUCTUREPlus Http Api Nginx Workers Map Structure
JSON STRUCTUREScroll within the panel for all 58 ·
Examples 54
Real request and response payloads are what turn a spec from abstract into obvious — and they're one of the twelve things an agent needs to call an API correctly on the first try.
Example request and response payloads for these APIs.
Njs Headers Example
EXAMPLENjs Http Request Example
EXAMPLENjs Ngx Example
EXAMPLENjs Ngx Shared Example
EXAMPLENjs Periodic Session Example
EXAMPLENjs Request Example
EXAMPLENjs Response Example
EXAMPLENjs Shared Dict Example
EXAMPLENjs Stream Session Example
EXAMPLEScroll within the panel for all 54 ·
Security Posture 1
Authentication, domain security, vulnerability disclosure, and trust-center signals — the evidence that a provider takes security seriously enough to document it. We profile it because you can't govern what you can't see.
Authentication, domain security, vulnerability disclosure, and trust-center signals.
Agentic Access 1
An x-agentic-access contract marks which operations are safe for an agent to run on its own and which need a human in the loop. It is the difference between an API an agent can use and one it can use safely.
Recommended x-agentic-access execution contracts for AI agents.
Use Cases 6
What developers actually build with this provider — captured so the catalogue answers 'what is this for', not just 'what does this expose'.
What developers build with this provider.
API Gateway
Route, authenticate, rate limit, and load balance API traffic across microservices.
Kubernetes Ingress
Manage external access to Kubernetes services with the NGINX Ingress Controller or Gateway Fabric.
Content Delivery
Cache and serve static content close to users with high throughput and low latency.
Microservices Proxy
Act as a sidecar or edge proxy for service-to-service communication in microservices architectures.
SSL Offloading
Terminate TLS at the edge to reduce cryptographic overhead on backend application servers.
Load Balancing
Distribute HTTP, TCP, UDP, and gRPC traffic across pools of upstream servers for high availability.
Integrations 6
Pre-built integrations with other platforms tell you where this provider already fits in a stack.
Pre-built integrations with other platforms and tools.
Kubernetes
Native Kubernetes integration through NGINX Ingress Controller and Gateway Fabric.
OpenTelemetry
Built-in ngx_otel_module for exporting traces to OpenTelemetry collectors.
Prometheus
Expose metrics for scraping by Prometheus via stub status or the NGINX Plus API.
Ansible
Official Ansible roles for automated NGINX installation and configuration management.
Docker
Official Docker images for containerized NGINX deployments.
Helm
Helm charts for deploying NGINX Ingress Controller and Gateway Fabric on Kubernetes.
Resources
Every other property we hold for NGINX — documentation, portals, status pages, policies, and corporate surface — grouped by the job it does, following the integrator's arc from getting started to running in production.
Get Started 1
Portal, sign-up, and the first successful call
Documentation 1
Reference material describing how the API behaves
Agent Surfaces 3
MCP servers, agent skills, and machine-readable catalogs
Design & Contract 2
Pagination, idempotency, versioning, errors, and events
Build 7
SDKs, sample code, and the tooling you integrate with
Scroll within the panel for all 7 ·
Access & Security 2
Authentication, authorization, and security posture
Learn 1
Tutorials, courses, talks, and written guidance
Operate 4
Status, limits, changes, and where to get help
Company 3
The organization behind the API
Other 1
Properties that don't map to a standard resource type
← All providers · Data indexed from github.com/api-evangelist/nginx · machine-readable index on apis.io