The API gateway component of OpenWhisk is built atop NGINX and OpenResty technologies. The main reason NGINX is chosen is because it provides high performance as the edge component of the platform. NGINX sits in front of every other component in the system. The API gateway is capable of caching the request with OpenResty talking to a Redis cluster on its side. However, Redis is an optional component. It can easily be disabled by removing it from the Docker Compose configuration. The API gateway is also responsible for severing the secured HTTPS protocol from users.

The current version of the API gateway is adobeapiplatform/apigateway:1.1.0. It is the version of the API gateway under joint development by Adobe and IBM.