---
layout: docs
page_title: Define API gateway routes on Kubernetes
description: Learn how to define and attach HTTP and TCP routes to Consul API gateway listeners in Kubernetes-orchestrated networks. 
---

# Define API gateway routes on Kubernetes

This topic describes how to configure HTTP and TCP routes and attach them to Consul API gateway listeners in Kubernetes-orchestrated networks. Routes are rule-based configurations that allow external clients to send requests to services in the mesh. For information   

## Overview

The following steps describe the general workflow for defining and deploying routes:

1. Define a route configuration that specifies the protocol type, name of the gateway to attach to, and rules for routing requests.  
1. Deploy the configuration to create the routes and attach them to the gateway.

Routes and the gateways they are attached to are eventually-consistent objects. They provide feedback about their current state through a series of status conditions. As a result, you must manually check the route status to determine if the route successfully bound to the gateway.

## Requirements

Verify that your environment meets the requirements specified in [Technical specifications for Kubernetes](/consul/docs/connect/gateways/api-gateway/tech-specs).

### OpenShift

If your Kubernetes-orchestrated network runs on OpenShift, verify that OpenShift is enabled for your Consul installation. Refer to [OpenShift requirements](/consul/docs/connect/gateways/api-gateway/tech-specs#openshift-requirements) for additional information. 

## Define routes

Define route configurations and bind them to listeners configured on the gateway so that Consul can route incoming requests to services in the mesh.

1. Create a configuration file and specify the following fields:

   - `apiVersion`: Specifies the Kuberenetes API gateway version. This must be set to `gateway.networking.k8s.io/v1beta1`
   - `kind`: Set to `HTTPRoute` or `TCPRoute`.
   - `metadata.name`:  Specify a name for the route. The name is metadata that you can use to reference the configuration when performing Consul operations.
   - `spec.parentRefs.name`: Specifies a list of API gateways that the route binds to. 
   - `spec. rules`: Specifies a list of routing rules for constructing a routing table that maps listeners to services.
   
   Refer to the [`Routes` configuration reference](/consul/docs/connect/gateways/api-gateway/configuration/routes) for details about configuring route rules.

1. Configure any additional fields necessary for your use case, such as the namespace or admin partition.
1. Save the configuration.

The following example creates a route named `example-route` associated with a listener defined in `example-gateway`.

```yaml
apiVersion: gateway.networking.k8s.io/v1beta1
kind: HTTPRoute
metadata:
  name: example-route
spec:
  parentRefs:
  - name: example-gateway
  rules:
  - backendRefs:
    - kind: Service
      name: echo
      port: 8080
```

## Deploy the route configuration

Apply the configuration to your cluster using the `kubectl` command. The following command applies the configuration to the `consul` namespace:

```shell-session
$ kubectl apply -f my-route.yaml -n consul
```