What’s an agent gateway?

An agent gateway serves as a crucial infrastructure layer for managing complex AI agent workflows by centralizing control over multi-step, multi-provider processes, ensuring reliability, security, and cost management. Unlike standard language model transactions, agent runs involve sequences of interdependent steps, where errors can propagate and token costs can escalate without clear attribution. The gateway provides essential functionalities such as credential management, conditional routing, automatic failover, and input/output guardrails, which help prevent issues like credential sprawl, unbounded spending, and security vulnerabilities. It also offers full-chain observability through comprehensive tracing that links every model call and tool invocation, allowing for efficient debugging and optimization. Portkey addresses these challenges through its suite of products, which include AI Gateway, MCP Gateway, and Agent Gateway, each designed to enhance the scalability and robustness of AI-driven systems by offering features like load balancing, token tracking, and policy enforcement across various AI frameworks and providers.

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