API Gateway
The API Gateway will serve as the central entry point for all external system integrations, providing a unified interface for venue management systems, third-party applications, and administrative tools to interact with the Digital Wall Ball Target detection system.
Purpose and System Role
The API Gateway will act as a reverse proxy (intermediary server) and API orchestration layer, abstracting the complexity of internal microservices (small independent services) and providing a consistent interface for external consumers. It will handle authentication, authorization, rate limiting, and request routing while maintaining backward compatibility with existing HYROX infrastructure systems.
By centralizing API management, the gateway will enable flexible deployment scenarios and simplify integration for venue operators. It will provide real-time access to detection results, system status, and configuration management while ensuring secure and controlled access to sensitive competition data.
Technical Implementation Approach
Built on a high-performance Node.js runtime with Express.js framework (JavaScript web server technology), the API Gateway will use industry-standard patterns for scalability and reliability. The implementation will use OpenAPI 3.0 specifications (API documentation standard) for consistent API documentation and client generation, with automatic validation of request/response schemas (data format checking).
The gateway will use a plugin-based architecture allowing custom middleware (processing layers) for venue-specific requirements. Core functionality will include JWT-based authentication (secure token system), role-based access control, request transformation, response caching, and comprehensive logging. Load balancing algorithms (traffic distribution methods) will distribute traffic across backend services based on health metrics and response times.
Communication Protocols and APIs
The gateway will implement comprehensive protocol support designed to accommodate diverse integration requirements across different client types.
RESTful HTTP/HTTPS APIs (standard web communication methods) will form the primary communication protocol, supporting standard CRUD operations (Create, Read, Update, Delete) with JSON payloads for maximum compatibility with modern systems.
WebSocket Connections (real-time two-way channels) will enable real-time bidirectional communication for live data streams, including detection events and system status updates essential for immediate feedback.
GraphQL Endpoints (flexible data query language) will provide flexible data querying capabilities for complex integration scenarios requiring custom data shapes.
Authentication Standards will follow OAuth 2.0 and JWT protocols (secure authentication methods) with additional support for API keys and certificate-based authentication for secure system-to-system communications.
Rate Limiting will implement token bucket algorithms (traffic control method) with configurable limits per client, endpoint, and time window to prevent system abuse while ensuring fair resource allocation across users.
Data Flow and Formats
Inbound requests will undergo validation, authentication, and transformation before routing to appropriate backend services. The gateway will normalize data formats between different API versions and client requirements, supporting both JSON and XML response formats based on Accept headers (client preferences).
Response aggregation will combine data from multiple services when required, with intelligent caching strategies reducing backend load. Streaming responses will handle large datasets efficiently, while compression algorithms will minimize bandwidth usage. All data flows will maintain strict schema validation (data format checking) and include correlation IDs (request tracking identifiers) for end-to-end request tracing.
Error Handling and Resilience
Comprehensive error handling will include standardized HTTP status codes, detailed error messages, and correlation IDs for troubleshooting. Circuit breaker patterns (automatic failure protection) will protect backend services from overload, automatically falling back to cached responses or graceful degradation modes (reduced functionality) when services become unavailable.
Retry mechanisms with exponential backoff and jitter (variable delays) will handle transient failures, while health check endpoints will monitor backend service availability. Timeout configurations will prevent request queuing during high load scenarios, and bulkhead patterns (isolation barriers) will isolate different API endpoints to prevent cascading failures across the system.