Gateway Domain-Centric Routing: A Vendor-Agnostic Metadata-Driven Architecture for Enterprise API Governance

This paper introduces Gateway Domain-Centric Routing (GDCR), a vendor-agnostic, metadata-driven architecture that routes API traffic by business domain (e.g., Sales, Finance, Logistics) instead of backend endpoints. The GDCR decouples routing logic from gateway configuration via dynamic metadata stores and introduces two patterns: Domain-Centric Routing Pattern (DCRP) for API gateway orchestration and Package Domain-Centric Pattern (PDCP) for backend integration consolidation. Sandbox validation on SAP BTP Integration Suite demonstrates: • 90% reduction in API proxies (41 → 4) • 90% reduction in CPI packages (39 → 4) • 69% reduction in technical users (39 → 12) • 95% faster deployment times (273 min → 14.5 min) • Performance: 35,000+ messages with 68ms average latency, 100% success rate, zero timeouts The architecture is vendor-agnostic with theoretical implementations for Apigee, Kong, AWS API Gateway, Azure APIM, and MuleSoft. GDCR enables AI-ready semantic routing, eliminates vendor lock-in, and provides a foundation for next-generation API governance via business-driven metadata orchestration. Related publications: - Medium: https://medium.com/@rhviana/gateway-domain-centric-routing-a-vendor-agnostic-api-architecture-52ad30d1d1d9- SAP BTP - APIM - Domain-Centric Routing Pattern (DCRP): Governing APIs via CPI Provider - Part I https://community.sap.com/t5/technology-blog-posts-by-members/sap-btp-apim-domain-centric-routing-pattern-dcrp-governing-apis-via-cpi/ba-p/14312788 SAP BTP-CPI-Package-Domain-Centric-Pattern (PDCP):Solving Package Sprawl at Scale-PART II https://community.sap.com/t5/technology-blog-posts-by-members/sap-btp-cpi-package-domain-centric-pattern-pdcp-solving-package-sprawl-at/ba-p/14318864 API Gateway Domain-Driven Design Metadata-Driven Architecture Enterprise Integration API Governance Microservices Cloud Integration Equivalent Architectural Names and Acronyms To ensure broad coverage across architectural domains, the following terms are defined as synonymous with the Gateway Domain-Centric Routing architecture: 1. Gateway Layer Naming: GDCR — Gateway Domain-Centric Router DCRP — Domain-Centric Routing Pattern MDAGR — Metadata-Driven API Gateway Routing SRBD — Semantic Routing via Business Domains 2. Semantic & Business-Oriented Naming: DOAGA — Domain-Oriented API Gateway Architecture BSGR — Business-Semantic Gateway Routing SAGA — Semantic API Gateway Architecture 3. Governance-Oriented Naming: DGAR — Domain-Governed API Routing CDRA — Centralized Domain Routing Architecture 4. Anti-Sprawl & Scalability Naming: APSRA — Anti-Proxy-Sprawl Routing Architecture DDGCP — Domain-Driven Gateway Consolidation Pattern