Service Mesh

aid: service-mesh
name: Service Mesh
description: Service mesh is a dedicated infrastructure layer for handling service-to-service communication in microservices
  architectures. It provides traffic management, mutual TLS security, observability, policy enforcement, and resilience features
  without requiring changes to application code. Key implementations include Istio, Linkerd, Consul Connect, and AWS App Mesh.
  This index tracks service mesh specifications, implementations, and related APIs across the ecosystem.
type: Index
image: https://kinlane-images.s3.amazonaws.com/shared/apis-json/apis-json-logo.jpg
tags:
- Service Mesh
- Microservices
- Cloud-Native
- Kubernetes
- Networking
- Observability
- Zero Trust
tags_raw:
- Service Mesh
- Microservices
- Cloud Native
- Kubernetes
- Networking
- Observability
- Zero Trust
url: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/service-mesh/refs/heads/main/apis.yml
created: '2026-03-27'
modified: '2026-05-02'
specificationVersion: '0.19'
apis:
- aid: service-mesh:istio-api
  name: Istio API
  description: Istio is the most widely deployed service mesh. Istio's control plane exposes APIs for traffic management (VirtualService,
    DestinationRule, Gateway), security (PeerAuthentication, AuthorizationPolicy), and telemetry configuration. The Istio
    API uses Kubernetes Custom Resource Definitions (CRDs) as its primary interface.
  humanURL: https://istio.io/latest/docs/reference/config/
  tags:
  - Service Mesh
  - Istio
  - Traffic Management
  - Kubernetes
  - mTLS
  properties:
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://istio.io/latest/docs/reference/config/
  - type: OpenAPI
    url: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/istio/api/master/networking/v1alpha3/virtual_service.proto
- aid: service-mesh:linkerd-api
  name: Linkerd Admin API
  description: Linkerd is a lightweight CNCF-graduated service mesh focused on simplicity and security. Linkerd exposes an
    admin API for metrics, health checks, and edge proxy management. It uses the SMI (Service Mesh Interface) API specification
    for traffic policy.
  humanURL: https://linkerd.io/2.14/reference/
  tags:
  - Service Mesh
  - Linkerd
  - CNCF
  - Observability
  - mTLS
  properties:
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://linkerd.io/2.14/reference/
  - type: GitHubOrganization
    url: https://github.com/linkerd
- aid: service-mesh:consul-api
  name: Consul Connect / Service Mesh API
  description: HashiCorp Consul provides service discovery and a service mesh (Consul Connect) with mutual TLS, intentions-based
    access control, and multi-datacenter support. Consul exposes a REST API for service catalog, health checks, key-value
    store, and mesh configuration.
  humanURL: https://developer.hashicorp.com/consul/api-docs
  tags:
  - Service Mesh
  - Consul
  - HashiCorp
  - Service Discovery
  - Zero Trust
  properties:
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://developer.hashicorp.com/consul/api-docs
  - type: OpenAPI
    url: https://github.com/hashicorp/consul/blob/main/api/openapi-spec/swagger.json
- aid: service-mesh:aws-app-mesh-api
  name: AWS App Mesh API
  description: AWS App Mesh is a managed service mesh that provides application-level networking for microservices on AWS.
    It integrates with ECS, EKS, EC2, and Fargate. The App Mesh API manages virtual services, virtual routers, virtual nodes,
    and routes.
  humanURL: https://docs.aws.amazon.com/app-mesh/latest/APIReference/
  tags:
  - Service Mesh
  - AWS
  - Cloud
  - EKS
  - ECS
  properties:
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://docs.aws.amazon.com/app-mesh/latest/APIReference/
- aid: service-mesh:service-mesh-interface
  name: Service Mesh Interface (SMI)
  description: SMI is a standard interface for service meshes on Kubernetes. It defines common APIs for traffic policy, traffic
    telemetry, and traffic management so that applications work with any SMI-compatible service mesh. SMI is hosted by the
    CNCF.
  humanURL: https://smi-spec.io/
  tags:
  - Service Mesh
  - SMI
  - Standards
  - Kubernetes
  - CNCF
  tags_raw:
  - Service Mesh
  - SMI
  - Standard
  - Kubernetes
  - CNCF
  properties:
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://smi-spec.io/
  - type: GitHubOrganization
    url: https://github.com/servicemeshinterface
common:
- type: Website
  url: https://github.com/api-evangelist/service-mesh
- type: Documentation
  url: https://istio.io/latest/docs/
- type: Guide
  url: https://linkerd.io/2.14/getting-started/
- type: Standard
  url: https://smi-spec.io/
- type: CNCF
  url: https://landscape.cncf.io/guide#orchestration-management--service-mesh
- type: JSONSchema
  url: json-schema/service-mesh-configuration-schema.json
- type: JSONStructure
  url: json-structure/service-mesh-traffic-policy-structure.json
- type: JSONLDContext
  url: json-ld/service-mesh-context.jsonld
- type: Vocabulary
  url: vocabulary/service-mesh-vocabulary.yml
maintainers:
- FN: Kin Lane
  email: kin@apievangelist.com