higress

higress

Higress is an open-source AI gateway and MCP (Model Control Plane) service platform developed by Alibaba Cloud, designed to facilitate AI model integration, unified protocol conversion, and efficient backend model scheduling for enterprises and developers.

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Quick Overview

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What it does

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higress

Higress is an AI gateway and MCP service platform that provides developers with a one-stop AI plugin set and enhanced backend model scheduling capabilities, making AI and gateway integration more convenient and efficient. It supports over 100 large language models and versions with unified protocol conversion and model-level fallback. Higress enables enterprises to quickly convert existing RESTful APIs into MCP servers without starting from scratch, supporting rapid exposure of services as MCP servers. It is widely used in various industries, including finance and travel, to build AI-powered applications and digital employees. The platform is open source and also offers commercial cloud versions.

AI-native API gateway for AI Agent development and LLM API management.

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Key Features

Multi-model Proxy

Supports unified protocol conversion for over 100 common large language models, enabling flexible backend model scheduling and forwarding requests to corresponding models.

MCP Conversion

Quickly converts existing RESTful APIs into MCP servers, allowing enterprises to leverage existing APIs and enjoy MCP benefits without rebuilding.

Semantic Caching

Supports precise and semantic caching of inference results to save tokens and reduce latency for similar or repeated queries.

Token Rate Limiting

Tracks token usage of large models and limits consumers who exceed quotas, providing better user quota management and token usage analytics.

Plugin Development with Wasm Client

Provides a wasm client wrapper for easier plugin development with scope control, and offers many ready-to-use community plugins.

Multi-data Source Integration

Integrates multiple mainstream service registries, enabling reuse of capabilities without redundant construction.

Unified Identity Authentication and Security Auditing

Offers unified identity authentication, traffic scheduling, parameter mapping, and security auditing for MCP requests.

Smart Routing and Unified Access

Optimized for AI business scenarios to reduce latency and resource consumption, simplifying model access and improving agent development efficiency.

Pricing

Free Tier Available

Higress offers an open-source version freely available for use. Commercial cloud versions with additional features are also available, but specific pricing details are not provided.

Use Cases

Enterprise AI Gateway

Used by enterprises like Ctrip and Semir to build AI gateways that unify large model service management, authentication, traffic control, and model mapping.

Digital Employee Deployment

Supports companies like Junrun Human Resources in deploying over 1000 digital employees working 24/7, significantly reducing labor costs.

Financial Data MCP Market

Enables financial data providers like Today Investment to convert rich financial APIs into MCP tools for easy and fast construction of financial large model applications.

Open Source AI Gateway Solution

Forms the core of SOFA AI Gateway, providing intelligent gateway solutions deeply optimized for AI business scenarios.

Integrations

Service Registries

Supports integration with multiple mainstream service registries for multi-data source management.

Large Language Models

Supports over 100 large language models with unified protocol conversion and fallback.

Alibaba Cloud Ecosystem

Integrates with Alibaba Cloud services and related open-source projects like Nacos, SpringCloudAlibaba, Dubbo, Sentinel, RocketMQ, and others.

Benefits

Simplifies integration and management of multiple large language models with unified protocols.
Accelerates transformation of existing APIs into MCP services, reducing development effort.
Improves AI service efficiency with semantic caching and token rate limiting.
Enhances security and governance with unified authentication, traffic control, and auditing.
Supports plugin extensibility and reuse of multi-data source integrations.
Reduces latency and resource consumption in AI scenarios through smart routing.
Facilitates rapid deployment of AI-powered digital employees and enterprise AI applications.

Limitations

Specific pricing details for commercial versions are not publicly disclosed.
Documentation and community support are primarily in Chinese, which may limit accessibility for non-Chinese speakers.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Higress?
Higress is an open-source AI gateway and MCP service platform that facilitates AI model integration, unified protocol conversion, and backend model scheduling.
Does Higress support multiple AI models?
Yes, Higress supports over 100 large language models with unified protocol conversion and model-level fallback.
Can I convert my existing RESTful APIs to MCP servers using Higress?
Yes, Higress provides MCP conversion capabilities to quickly transform existing RESTful APIs into MCP servers.
Is Higress free to use?
Higress offers an open-source version that is free to use. Commercial cloud versions are also available.
How can I get support for Higress?
You can join the community via DingTalk, WeChat groups, or follow the official WeChat public account. Documentation and GitHub repositories are also available.

Getting Started

  1. 1 Join the Higress community via DingTalk group, WeChat group, or follow the official WeChat public account.
  2. 2 Access the official documentation and explore the open-source repository on GitHub.
  3. 3 Deploy Higress AI Gateway and configure it to proxy and manage your AI models or convert existing RESTful APIs into MCP servers.
  4. 4 Develop or use existing plugins via the wasm client for extended functionality.
  5. 5 Integrate with your service registries and configure authentication, traffic control, and caching as needed.

Support

Community Groups

Join DingTalk and WeChat groups for community support and updates.

Documentation

Access official documentation and GitHub repositories for technical guidance.

WeChat Public Account

Follow the official WeChat public account for news and announcements.

API

Available: Yes
Documentation:

API documentation is available through the official Higress documentation and GitHub repositories.

Rate Limits:

Supports token-based rate limiting to manage usage quotas and prevent overuse.

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