Run the Gateway

Programmatic path

Most teams embed startGateway() in their own Node.js application rather than running the Gateway as a separate process. This is the standard production path.

1.1 Development (no auth)

Use noAuth: true during local development to skip the JWT requirement:

const { getKernel, startGateway } = require('@tetherto/mdk')

const kernel = await getKernel()
const server = await startGateway({ kernel, port: 3000, noAuth: true })
// HTTP server is up at http://localhost:3000

1.2 Production (OAuth2)

Pass an auth block to enable OAuth2. Google and Microsoft providers are built in:

const { getKernel, startGateway } = require('@tetherto/mdk')

const kernel = await getKernel()
const server = await startGateway({
  kernel,
  port: 3000,
  auth: {
    h0: {
      method: 'google',
      credentials: { client: { id: 'YOUR_CLIENT_ID', secret: 'YOUR_CLIENT_SECRET' } },
      users: ['admin@example.com']
    }
  }
})

Replace the users array with the email addresses that should have access. A copy of the full OAuth2 config format ships in backend/core/gateway/config/facs/httpd-oauth2.config.json.example. The generated httpd-oauth2.config.json (written to opts.root/config/facs/ on first start) persists your settings across restarts — edit that file rather than the code.

The full configuration reference, including all startGateway() options, is in the Gateway API reference.

Cross-host path (HRPC)

Use this path when Kernel runs on a separate host. Pass the Kernel HRPC listener public key to startGateway() instead of an Kernel instance. (On a single host, neither is needed: startGateway() reads the key from the well-known key file that getKernel() publishes — see the key resolution order.)

2.1 Obtain the Kernel listener key

On the host running Kernel, start Kernel and print its public key:

const { getKernel } = require('@tetherto/mdk')

const kernel = await getKernel()
console.log('Kernel listener key:', kernel.getPublicKey().toString('hex'))

Share that hex string with the Gateway host.

2.2 Start the Gateway with kernelKey

const { startGateway } = require('@tetherto/mdk')

const server = await startGateway({
  kernelKey: '<kernel-listener-pubkey-hex>',
  port: 3000,
  noAuth: true   // replace with auth config for production
})

Standalone path

To run the Gateway directly from the source tree without embedding it:

cd backend/core/gateway
npm install
npm run dev

For production mode:

npm start