Service groups

A service group is a logical grouping of services (routes, APIs) primarily used for API key authorization. Instead of authorizing an API key for each individual service, you can group services together and grant authorization on the entire group.

UI page

You can find all service groups here

Properties

Property	Type	Description
id	string	Unique identifier of the group
name	string	Display name of the group
description	string	Description of the group
tags	array of string	Tags for categorization
metadata	object	Key/value metadata

How it works

1. Create a group with a meaningful name (e.g., "Payment APIs", "Public APIs")
2. Assign routes to the group by adding the group ID to a route's groups field
3. Authorize API keys on the group using the API key's authorizedEntities field

When an API key is authorized on a group, it automatically has access to all routes that belong to that group. This simplifies API key management significantly when you have many routes that share the same access control requirements.

JSON example

{
  "id": "group_payment_apis",
  "name": "Payment APIs",
  "description": "All payment-related API routes",
  "metadata": {
    "department": "finance"
  },
  "tags": ["payment", "finance"]
}

Authorizing an API key on a group

In the API key entity, reference the group in authorizedEntities:

{
  "clientId": "my-api-key-id",
  "clientSecret": "my-api-key-secret",
  "clientName": "Payment service key",
  "authorizedEntities": ["group_payment_apis"]
}

Adding a route to a group

In the route entity, add the group ID to the groups array:

{
  "id": "route_process_payment",
  "name": "Process payment",
  "groups": ["group_payment_apis"],
  "frontend": { "..." : "..." },
  "backend": { "..." : "..." },
  "plugins": { "..." : "..." }
}

Admin API

GET    /api/groups           # List all service groups
POST   /api/groups           # Create a service group
GET    /api/groups/:id       # Get a service group
PUT    /api/groups/:id       # Update a service group
DELETE /api/groups/:id       # Delete a service group
PATCH  /api/groups/:id       # Partially update a service group

When a service group is deleted, the resources associated are not deleted. The group reference on those resources will become invalid (empty).

Related entities

• Routes - Routes reference groups in their groups field
• API Keys - API keys reference groups in their authorizedEntities field
• APIs - APIs also create virtual groups automatically for their routes