Introduction

This tutorial will walk you through all the steps to build a new custom plugin for Kong Gateway. The plugin you build will transform HTTP traffic as it passes through the API gateway, and give you a solid starting point for building custom plugins to solve your specific business needs.

The guide starts by setting up a new plugin project, showing how folders are structured and explaining code file contents and best practices. The guide proceeds by describing testing tools and how to build automated tests for your custom plugins. The guide continues by showing how to add plugin configuration to the project allowing for runtime behavior changes.

Later chapters of the guide go further to provide guidance on advanced topics including consuming external services from within your plugin and plugin deployments.

Use the links on the bottom of these pages to navigate the guide. If you experience any issues with this sample code or guidance in these pages, please reach out by reporting an issue on GitHub.

Note: While not required, an understanding of the Lua language is helpful for this guide.

Note: This guide is written to help you quickly build a custom plugin from the beginning. For advanced topics on plugin development with Kong Gateway, be sure to see the remaining areas of documentation in the Plugin Development Section.