# Ambassador

> Proxy external service access through ambassador containers

- **Category**: Cloud
- **Subcategory**: Structural
- **Canonical URL**: https://designpattern.fyi/patterns/k8s_ambassador/

---

## Description
The Ambassador pattern uses ambassador containers to proxy access to external services or resources. Ambassadors can handle cross-cutting concerns like authentication, monitoring, routing, or rate limiting for external service calls. They act as client-side proxies that intercept and process requests before they reach external services.


## Use Cases
Use when you need to implement cross-cutting concerns for external service calls or when you want to offload client-side networking responsibilities to dedicated containers.





## Trade-offs


### Advantages

- Centralizes cross-cutting concerns

- Reduces application complexity

- Enables consistent request handling

- Supports advanced networking features




### Considerations & Drawbacks

- Additional infrastructure to manage

- Potential performance overhead

- Adds complexity to pod configuration







---
**Reference**: [Original Source](https://github.com/k8spatterns/examples/tree/master/structural/Ambassador)