HTTPRoute resource reference

Last Updated March 03, 2025

This topic gives you reference information about the HTTPRoute resource for Tanzu Platform, which routes HTTP or HTTPS traffic to a deployed Kubernetes application.

Tanzu Platform automatically creates the HTTPRoute resource when you initialize a ContainerApp for your application using the tanzu app init command. However, you can also create this resource manually.

HTTPRoute resource

If want to create an HTTPRoute resource manually, create a YAML file for the resource in the .tanzu/config directory of your repository. Define the resource as follows:

apiVersion: gateway.networking.k8s.io/v1beta1
kind: HTTPRoute
metadata:
  name: APP-NAME-route
  annotations:
    healthcheck.gslb.tanzu.vmware.com/service: APP-NAME
    healthcheck.gslb.tanzu.vmware.com/path: HEALTHCHECK-PATH
    healthcheck.gslb.tanzu.vmware.com/port: HEALTHCHECK-PORT
    apps.tanzu.vmware.com/promotable: ""
    apps.tanzu.vmware.com/promote-group: ContainerApp/APP-NAME
spec:
  parentRefs:
  - group: gateway.networking.k8s.io
    kind: Gateway
    name: default-gateway
    sectionName: http-APP-HOSTNAME #use https for TLS
  rules:
  - backendRefs:
    - group: ""
      kind: Service
      name: APP-NAME
      port: APP-PORT
      weight: 1
    matches:
    - path:
        type: PathPrefix
        value: APP-PATH

Where:

Variable	Description	Example
`APP-NAME`	The name of the application specified by the `tanzu deploy` command	`helloworld`
`HEALTHCHECK-PATH`	The path that the application provides the health check service on	`/`
`HEALTHCHECK-PORT`	The port that the application provides the health check service on	`8080`
`APP-HOSTNAME`	The hostname that the GSLB uses in combination with the domain configuration to create the DNS record. Must be prefixed with `http` or `https`. For example, if `http-APP-HOSTNAME` is `http-helloworld` and the domain is `tanzu.com`, the resulting DNS record is `helloworld.tanzu.com`.	`http-helloworld`
`APP-PORT`	The port that the Kubernetes services is listening on for HTTP requests	`80`
`APP-PATH`	The path for the application	`/`

Example HTTPRoute manifests

This section provides examples to help you to configure the HTTPRoute resource.

Spring Music sample

Spring Music: is a simple application that requires traffic to be routed in to the Space from the multicloud-ingress, directly to the Kubernetes service, and then to the pods hosting the service.

The HTTPRoute resource for this sample app is as follows:

apiVersion: gateway.networking.k8s.io/v1beta1
kind: HTTPRoute
metadata:
  name: spring-music-route
  annotations:
    healthcheck.gslb.tanzu.vmware.com/service: spring-music
    healthcheck.gslb.tanzu.vmware.com/path: /
    healthcheck.gslb.tanzu.vmware.com/port: "8080"
    apps.tanzu.vmware.com/promotable: ""
    apps.tanzu.vmware.com/promote-group: ContainerApp/spring-music
spec:
  parentRefs:
  - group: gateway.networking.k8s.io
    kind: Gateway
    name: default-gateway
    sectionName: http-spring-music
  rules:
  - backendRefs:
    - group: ""
      kind: Service
      name: spring-music
      port: 8080
      weight: 1
    matches:
    - path:
        type: PathPrefix
        value: /

Where for Dinner sample

Where for Dinner: uses Spring Cloud Gateway. The HTTProute routes traffic to the Spring Cloud Gateway, which then routes traffic to the correct Kubernetes service based on the route.