Migrating from NGINX Ingress to Envoy Gateway (Gateway API): behind the scenes

Following the announcement that the Ingress NGINX project will end maintenance in March 2026, Qovery is migrating over 300 customer clusters from Kubernetes Ingress with NGINX Ingress Controller to the Gateway API with Envoy Gateway. This transition is driven by the need for a more modern and scalable traffic management solution that addresses the limitations of Ingress, such as its reliance on annotations and limited API surface for complex traffic needs. Envoy Gateway was chosen for its strong performance, cloud-native design, and compatibility with Kubernetes Gateway API, offering improved routing, observability, and extensibility. The migration is conducted in four phases to ensure no downtime and allow customers to test and validate the new setup, with a focus on maintaining operational clarity and backward compatibility. This structured approach aims to provide a seamless transition while gradually implementing the new architecture.