Why is Kong needed?

[jashandeep-sohi]

Hi, I'm trying to figure out why the Helm chart is installing Kong CRDs. Is there a particular reason why Kong is need? Why not use something more lightweight like Caddy?

[dmaphy]

There is an issue here: #8972
And a pull request here: #9317

Which should at least kind of explain why it is needed.

[NandanDevHub]

okay so why is Kong included in the chart?

by default, the Dashboard Helm chart bundles Kong Ingress Controller CRDs so you can expose both HTTP and gRPC endpoints—including custom plugins like authentication and rate limiting, hrough a single API Gateway. Standard Kubernetes Ingress resources can’t natively handle multiple protocols under one endpoint or stitch together plugins via CRDs.

and what do the Kong CRDs do?

Kong’s chart installs CustomResourceDefinitions (CRDs) for entities such as KongPlugin, KongRoute, and KongService, which let you declaratively configure routing, plugins, and Gateway API resources in your cluster. Without these CRDs, you can’t leverage Kong’s advanced features like gRPC routing or plugin-based auth.

Why not use Caddy instead?

Although there is a Caddy Ingress Controller project, it’s still maturing and lacks the broad ecosystem of plugins and multi-protocol support that Kong provides out of the box. Caddy’s controller monitors only standard Ingress resources and doesn’t yet support gRPC routing, OIDC plugins, or custom Gateway API CRDs at production scale.

and can you disable Kong?

Yes,i mean if you already run a different ingress/gateway, set in your values.yaml:

kong:
  enabled: false
app:
  ingress:
    enabled: true
    hosts:
      - example.yourdomain.com

This change was introduced by PR #9317, which lets you turn off the Kong CRDs entirely and rely on your own ingress controller.

How does Kong fit into Gateway API?

Kong implements the Gateway API via CRDs so you can define Gateway and HTTPRoute resources for more flexible, protocol-agnostic routing far beyond what core Ingress can do. Just install the Gateway API CRDs before deploying Kong to unlock this functionality.

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so basically Kong is included to provide a unified API Gateway, handling HTTP, gRPC, authentication plugins, and Gateway API routing via CRDs—that standard Ingress or lightweight controllers like Caddy can’t match today. But if you prefer another solution, you can disable Kong in the Helm values and plug in your own ingress or gateway of choice.