---
title: Enable Gateway API
---

# Enable Gateway API {#enable-gateway-api_{context}}

To route traffic using Gateway API, you must first enable the feature on your cluster. You can enable Gateway API by creating a `GatewayClass` custom resource, which triggers the Ingress Operator to provision the necessary controller and components.

After you successfully enable Gateway API, you can begin deploying gateways, assigning network addresses, and configuring listeners to control your network traffic flow.

## Enable Gateway API for the Ingress Operator {#enable-gateway-api-ingress-operator_enable-gateway-api}

To configure Gateway API for use on your cluster, you must create a `GatewayClass` resource. During the creation of the `GatewayClass` resource, the Ingress Operator installs a lightweight Istio control plane, based on Red Hat OpenShift Service Mesh, in the `openshift-ingress` namespace.

**Prerequisites**

- You have access to the cluster as a user with the `cluster-admin` role.
- You have installed the OpenShift CLI (`oc`).

**Procedure**

1. Create a `GatewayClass` object:

   1. Create a YAML file, `openshift-default.yaml`, that contains the following information:

      ```yaml {title="Example GatewayClass CR"}
      apiVersion: gateway.networking.k8s.io/v1
      kind: GatewayClass
      metadata:
        name: openshift-default
      spec:
        controllerName: openshift.io/gateway-controller/v1
      ```

      - `metadata.name`: The name of your `GatewayClass` object. The name must consist of a maximum of 63 lowercase alphanumeric characters or hyphens (`-`). The name must also start and end with an alphanumeric character.

        > [!IMPORTANT]
        > The `controllerName` value must be exactly as shown for the Ingress Operator to manage it. If you set this field to anything else, the Ingress Operator ignores the `GatewayClass` object and all associated `Gateway`, `GRPCRoute`, and `HTTPRoute` objects. The controller name is tied to the implementation of Gateway API in OpenShift Container Platform, and `openshift.io/gateway-controller/v1` is the only controller name allowed.
   2. Run the following command to create the `GatewayClass` resource:

      ```terminal
      $ oc create -f openshift-default.yaml
      ```

      ```terminal {title="Example output"}
      gatewayclass.gateway.networking.k8s.io/openshift-default created
      ```

**Verification**

- Verify that the `GatewayClass` CR has been accepted and the controller is successfully installed by running the following command:

  ```terminal
  $ oc get gatewayclass openshift-default -o yaml
  ```

  ```yaml {title="Example output"}
  # ...
  status:
    conditions:
    - lastTransitionTime: "2026-05-15T10:00:00Z"
      message: The GatewayClass has been accepted
      reason: Accepted
      status: "True"
      type: Accepted
    - lastTransitionTime: "2026-05-15T10:00:00Z"
      message: Istio installed successfully
      reason: Installed
      status: "True"
      type: ControllerInstalled
    - lastTransitionTime: "2026-05-15T10:00:00Z"
      message: Istio CRDs are being managed by cluster-ingress-operator
      reason: ManagedByCIO
      status: "True"
      type: CRDsReady
  # ...
  ```

  Inspect the `status.conditions` block in the output. A healthy `GatewayClass` CR reports a status of `True` for the `Accepted`, `ControllerInstalled`, and `CRDsReady` conditions.