REGISTER NOW FOR THE KONG AGENTIC ERA WORLD TOUR GOVERN A2A TRAFFIC WITH KONG'S NEW AGENT GATEWAY WHY GARTNER’S “CONTEXT MESH” CHANGES EVERYTHING DON’T MISS API + AI SUMMIT 2026 SEPT 30 – OCT 1
  • [Why Kong](/company/why-kong)Why Kong
    • Explore the unified API Platform
        • BUILD APIs
        • [
          Kong Insomnia](/products/kong-insomnia)
          Kong Insomnia
        • [
          API Design](/products/kong-insomnia/api-design)
          API Design
        • [
          API Mocking](/products/kong-insomnia/api-mocking)
          API Mocking
        • [
          API Testing and Debugging](/products/kong-insomnia/api-testing-and-debugging)
          API Testing and Debugging
        • [
          MCP Client](/products/kong-insomnia/mcp-client)
          MCP Client
        • RUN APIs
        • [
          API Gateway](/products/kong-gateway)
          API Gateway
        • [
          Context Mesh](/products/kong-konnect/features/context-mesh)
          Context Mesh
        • [
          AI Gateway](/products/kong-ai-gateway)
          AI Gateway
        • [
          Event Gateway](/products/event-gateway)
          Event Gateway
        • [
          Kubernetes Operator](/products/kong-gateway-operator)
          Kubernetes Operator
        • [
          Service Mesh](/products/kong-mesh)
          Service Mesh
        • [
          Ingress Controller](/products/kong-ingress-controller)
          Ingress Controller
        • [
          Runtime Management](/products/kong-konnect/features/runtime-management)
          Runtime Management
        • DISCOVER APIs
        • [
          Developer Portal](/products/kong-konnect/features/developer-portal)
          Developer Portal
        • [
          Service Catalog](/products/kong-konnect/features/api-service-catalog)
          Service Catalog
        • [
          MCP Registry](/products/mcp-registry)
          MCP Registry
        • GOVERN APIs
        • [
          Metering and Billing](/products/kong-konnect/features/usage-based-metering-and-billing)
          Metering and Billing
        • [
          APIOps and Automation](/products/apiops-automation)
          APIOps and Automation
        • [
          API Observability](/products/kong-konnect/features/api-observability)
          API Observability
        • [Why Kong?](/company/why-kong)Why Kong?
      • CLOUD
      • [Cloud API Gateways](/products/kong-konnect/features/dedicated-cloud-gateways)Cloud API Gateways
      • [Need a self-hosted or hybrid option?](/products/kong-enterprise)Need a self-hosted or hybrid option?
      • COMPARE
      • [Considering AI Gateway alternatives? ](/performance-comparison/ai-gateway-alternatives)Considering AI Gateway alternatives?
      • [Kong vs. Postman](/performance-comparison/kong-vs-postman)Kong vs. Postman
      • [Kong vs. MuleSoft](/performance-comparison/kong-vs-mulesoft)Kong vs. MuleSoft
      • [Kong vs. Apigee](/performance-comparison/kong-vs-apigee)Kong vs. Apigee
      • [Kong vs. IBM](/performance-comparison/ibm-api-connect-vs-kong)Kong vs. IBM
      • GET STARTED
      • [Sign Up for Kong Konnect](/products/kong-konnect/register)Sign Up for Kong Konnect
      • [Documentation](https://developer.konghq.com/)Documentation
      • FOR PLATFORM TEAMS
      • [Developer Platform](/solutions/building-developer-platform)Developer Platform
      • [Kubernetes and Microservices](/solutions/build-on-kubernetes)Kubernetes and Microservices
      • [Observability](/solutions/observability)Observability
      • [Service Mesh Connectivity ](/solutions/service-mesh-connectivity)Service Mesh Connectivity
      • [Kafka Event Streaming](/solutions/kafka-stream-api-management)Kafka Event Streaming
      • FOR EXECUTIVES
      • [AI Connectivity](/ai-connectivity)AI Connectivity
      • [Open Banking](/solutions/open-banking)Open Banking
      • [Legacy Migration](/solutions/legacy-api-management-migration)Legacy Migration
      • [Platform Cost Reduction](/solutions/api-platform-consolidation)Platform Cost Reduction
      • [Kafka Cost Optimization](/solutions/reduce-kafka-cost)Kafka Cost Optimization
      • [API Monetization](/solutions/api-monetization)API Monetization
      • [AI Monetization](/solutions/ai-monetization)AI Monetization
      • [AI FinOps](/solutions/ai-cost-governance-finops)AI FinOps
      • FOR AI TEAMS
      • [Agent Gateway](/agent-gateway)Agent Gateway
      • [AI Governance](/solutions/ai-governance)AI Governance
      • [AI Security](/solutions/ai-security)AI Security
      • [AI Cost Control](/solutions/ai-cost-optimization-management)AI Cost Control
      • [Agentic Infrastructure](/solutions/agentic-ai-workflows)Agentic Infrastructure
      • [MCP Production](/solutions/mcp-production-and-consumption)MCP Production
      • [MCP Traffic Gateway](/solutions/mcp-governance)MCP Traffic Gateway
      • FOR DEVELOPERS
      • [Mobile App API Development](/solutions/mobile-application-api-development)Mobile App API Development
      • [GenAI App Development](/solutions/power-openai-applications)GenAI App Development
      • [API Gateway for Istio](/solutions/istio-gateway)API Gateway for Istio
      • [Decentralized Load Balancing](/solutions/decentralized-load-balancing)Decentralized Load Balancing
      • BY INDUSTRY
      • [Financial Services](/solutions/financial-services-industry)Financial Services
      • [Healthcare](/solutions/healthcare)Healthcare
      • [Higher Education](/solutions/api-platform-for-education-services)Higher Education
      • [Insurance](/solutions/insurance)Insurance
      • [Manufacturing](/solutions/manufacturing)Manufacturing
      • [Retail](/solutions/retail)Retail
      • [Software & Technology](/solutions/software-and-technology)Software & Technology
      • [Transportation](/solutions/transportation-and-logistics)Transportation
      • [See all Solutions](/solutions)See all Solutions
  • [Pricing](/pricing)Pricing
      • DOCUMENTATION
      • [Kong Konnect](https://developer.konghq.com/konnect/)Kong Konnect
      • [Kong Gateway](https://developer.konghq.com/gateway/)Kong Gateway
      • [Kong Mesh](https://developer.konghq.com/mesh/)Kong Mesh
      • [Kong AI Gateway](https://developer.konghq.com/ai-gateway/)Kong AI Gateway
      • [Kong Event Gateway](https://developer.konghq.com/event-gateway/)Kong Event Gateway
      • [Kong Insomnia](https://developer.konghq.com/insomnia/)Kong Insomnia
      • [Plugin Hub](https://developer.konghq.com/plugins/)Plugin Hub
      • EXPLORE
      • [Blog](/blog)Blog
      • [Learning Center](/blog/learning-center)Learning Center
      • [eBooks](/resources/e-book)eBooks
      • [Reports](/resources/reports)Reports
      • [Demos](/resources/demos)Demos
      • [Customer Stories](/customer-stories)Customer Stories
      • [Videos](/resources/videos)Videos
      • EVENTS
      • [API + AI Summit](/events/conferences/api-ai-summit)API + AI Summit
      • [Agentic Era World Tour](/agentic-era-world-tour)Agentic Era World Tour
      • [Webinars](/events/webinars)Webinars
      • [User Calls](/events/user-calls)User Calls
      • [Workshops](/events/workshops)Workshops
      • [Meetups](/events/meetups)Meetups
      • [See All Events](/events)See All Events
      • FOR DEVELOPERS
      • [Get Started](https://developer.konghq.com/)Get Started
      • [Community](/community)Community
      • [Certification](/academy/certification)Certification
      • [Training](https://education.konghq.com)Training
      • COMPANY
      • [About Us](/company/about-us)About Us
      • [We're Hiring!](/company/careers)We're Hiring!
      • [Press Room](/company/press-room)Press Room
      • [Contact Us](/company/contact-us)Contact Us
      • [Kong Partner Program](/partners)Kong Partner Program
      • [Enterprise Support Portal](https://support.konghq.com/s/)Enterprise Support Portal
      • [Documentation](https://developer.konghq.com/?_gl=1*tphanb*_gcl_au*MTcxNTQ5NjQ0MC4xNzY5Nzg4MDY0LjIwMTI3NzEwOTEuMTc3MzMxODI2MS4xNzczMzE4MjYw*_ga*NDIwMDU4MTU3LjE3Njk3ODgwNjQ.*_ga_4JK9146J1H*czE3NzQwMjg1MjkkbzE4OSRnMCR0MTc3NDAyODUyOSRqNjAkbDAkaDA)Documentation
  • [](/search)
  • [Login](https://cloud.konghq.com/login)Login
  • [Book Demo](/contact-sales)Book Demo
  • [Get Started](/products/kong-konnect/register)Get Started
[Blog](/blog)Blog
  • [AI Gateway](/blog/tag/ai-gateway)AI Gateway
  • [AI Security](/blog/tag/ai-security)AI Security
  • [AIOps](/blog/tag/aiops)AIOps
  • [API Security](/blog/tag/api-security)API Security
  • [API Gateway](/blog/tag/api-gateway)API Gateway
|
    • [API Management](/blog/tag/api-management)API Management
    • [API Development](/blog/tag/api-development)API Development
    • [API Design](/blog/tag/api-design)API Design
    • [Automation](/blog/tag/automation)Automation
    • [Service Mesh](/blog/tag/service-mesh)Service Mesh
    • [Insomnia](/blog/tag/insomnia)Insomnia
    • [Event Gateway](/blog/tag/event-gateway)Event Gateway
    • [View All Blogs](/blog/page/1)View All Blogs
We're Entering the Age of AI Connectivity [Read more](/blog/news/the-age-of-ai-connectivity)Read moreProducts & Agents:
    • [Kong AI Gateway](/products/kong-ai-gateway)Kong AI Gateway
    • [Kong API Gateway](/products/kong-gateway)Kong API Gateway
    • [Kong Event Gateway](/products/event-gateway)Kong Event Gateway
    • [Kong Metering & Billing](/products/usage-based-metering-and-billing)Kong Metering & Billing
    • [Kong Insomnia](/products/kong-insomnia)Kong Insomnia
    • [Kong Konnect](/products/kong-konnect)Kong Konnect
  • [Documentation](https://developer.konghq.com)Documentation
  • [Book Demo](/contact-sales)Book Demo
  1. Home
  2. Blog
  3. Product Releases
  4. Introducing kongctl
[Product Releases](/blog/product-releases)Product Releases
October 15, 2025
2 min read

# Introducing kongctl

Michael Heap
Sr Director Developer Experience, Kong
Rick Spurgeon
Product Engineer, Kong

One of Kong Gateway’s superpowers is `deck`, our first-party declarative configuration tool. Tens of thousands of developers all around the world have embraced a text-driven, version-controlled configuration workflow for the world’s most used [API Gateway](https://konghq.com/products/kong-ai-gateway)API Gateway.

The `deck` CLI is an incredible tool, but it only works for Kong Gateway. As we’ve expanded our product offering, we’ve leaned into existing infrastructure-as-code tools, such as Terraform, to enable users to configure them declaratively. This works fantastically well for existing Terraform users, but there’s a learning curve for new users.

With this in mind, we’ve started building a new, Konnect-first CLI that handles declarative management for all products. Today, it supports Control Planes and Developer Portal, but in the coming months, we’ll get to 100% product coverage.

Built for developers

We’ve taken the best parts of Terraform, deck, the AWS CLI, and more of your favorite tools and combined them into something that’s really special.

kongctl takes inspiration from the AWS CLI, with support for profiles. Profiles are configuration sets that allow you to easily switch between different settings with the KONGCTL_PROFILE environment variable or the —profile flag. You may choose to create profiles for your different Konnect Organizations or different profiles for your development machine vs the one you run in CI/CD pipelines.

Inspiration comes from kubectl, with support for imperative commands allowing you to work with your resources quickly. Need the list of your Developer Portals? kongctl’s logical verb [noun…] command pattern yields the easy-to-remember kongctl get portals, giving you the list quickly in JSON, YAML, or simple text output formats.

**This content contains a video which can not be displayed in Agent mode**

GitHub provides inspiration with the very handy api subcommand, giving you direct access to explore the Konnect API without worrying about managing authentication. Want to see the raw return values from the Developer Portal API? kongctl api /v3/portals.

kongctl is a tool built by developers, for developers.

Declarative configuration for Konnect

One of the things we repeatedly hear about deck is how simple it is to use. There’s no state file to manage, and you can run deck gateway sync in CI and it will figure out everything it needs to do.

kongctl takes this model and applies it to all of Konnect, with a couple of improvements to help users understand what is happening. We’ll provide a deep-dive explanation about some of the key changes in a future post, but for now here’s a video of how simple it is to manage Konnect declaratively with kongctl:

**This content contains a video which can not be displayed in Agent mode**

Ask Kai

If you watched the API Summit keynotes, you may have seen Kai, Kong’s AI assistant. kongctl provides an interactive terminal user interface, giving you a familiar turn-based chat with the AI assistant. Specify context, ask questions, and manage your Konnect infrastructure in a friendly conversational style.

**This content contains a video which can not be displayed in Agent mode**

And more!

We’re just scratching the surface of what kongctl will enable over the coming months and years. We’re taking our time and making sure that we build the workflows we’ve seen from users over the years as first-class citizens in kongctl.

The deck CLI is still our first choice tool for configuring Kong Gateway. Eventually, we’ll add API Gateway support to kongctl, but rest assured that deck will be supported for years to come.

You’ll see kongctl appearing in demo videos and on [https://developer.konghq.com](https://developer.konghq.com)https://developer.konghq.com in the near future, and we’d love it if you gave it a go and told us what you like, what you don’t, and what functionality you wish it had.

- [API Gateway](/blog/tag/api-gateway)API Gateway- [decK](/blog/tag/deck)decK- [AI](/blog/tag/ai)AI

## More on this topic

_Webinars_

## How Kong Insomnia & AI-Ready APIs Are Shaping the Future of Digital Innovation

_Videos_

## Kong Gateway 3.8

## See Kong in action

Accelerate deployments, reduce vulnerabilities, and gain real-time visibility. 

[Get a Demo](/contact-sales)Get a Demo
**Topics**
- [API Gateway](/blog/tag/api-gateway)API Gateway- [decK](/blog/tag/deck)decK- [AI](/blog/tag/ai)AI
Michael Heap
Sr Director Developer Experience, Kong
Rick Spurgeon
Product Engineer, Kong

Recommended posts

# Configuring Kong Dedicated Cloud Gateways with Managed Redis in a Multi-Cloud Environment

[Engineering](/blog)EngineeringMarch 12, 2026

Architecture Overview A multicloud DCGW architecture typically contains three main layers. 1\. Konnect Control Plane The SaaS control plane manages configuration, plugins, and policies. All gateways connect securely to this layer. 2\. Dedicated C

Hugo Guerrero
[](https://konghq.com/blog/engineering/dedicated-cloud-gateways-managed-redis-multi-cloud)

# Fortify API Gateway Deployments with decK File Linting

[Product Releases](/blog)Product ReleasesNovember 29, 2023

API gateways serve as the final checkpoint for your APIs. As such, gateway configuration is critical to ensuring that your APIs remain secure, available, and responsive. Ensuring that all changes to these configurations are intentional and follow yo

Rick Spurgeon
[](https://konghq.com/blog/product-releases/deck-file-linting)

# decK 1.7.0 Released

[Product Releases](/blog)Product ReleasesMay 27, 2021

If you've not heard of decK (our declarative configuration and drift detection tool for Kong Gateway ) before, now's a great time to get hands-on with it as we've just shipped decK v1.7.0 with a whole host of new goodies. Oh, and it's all open sou

Michael Heap
[](https://konghq.com/blog/product-releases/deck-1-7-0-released)

# Govern the Full AI Data Path with Kong AI Gateway 3.14

[Product Releases](/blog)Product ReleasesApril 14, 2026

Agent-to-agent communication is the next frontier of AI infrastructure. As teams decompose monolithic AI workflows into specialized agents — a research agent, a booking agent, a summarization agent — the calls between those agents become as importa

Greg Peranich
[](https://konghq.com/blog/product-releases/kong-ai-gateway-3-14)

# Kong Simplifies Multicloud Cloud Gateways with Managed Redis Cache

[Product Releases](/blog)Product ReleasesMarch 12, 2026

Managed Redis cache is a turnkey "Shared State" add-on for Kong Dedicated Cloud Gateways. It is designed to combine the performance of an in-memory data store with the simplicity of a SaaS product. When you spin up a Dedicated Cloud Gateway in Kong

Amit Shah
[](https://konghq.com/blog/product-releases/multicloud-cloud-gateways-managed-redis-cache)

# Announcing Kong Operator 2.1

[Product Releases](/blog)Product ReleasesFebruary 10, 2026

With Kong Ingress Controller, when your Control Plane was hosted in Kong Konnect, and you were using Kubernetes Gateway API, your dataplane, routes, and services were in read-only mode. When using Kong Ingress Controller with Kubernetes Gateway API

Justin Davies
[](https://konghq.com/blog/product-releases/kong-operator-2-1)

# From Strategy to Action: See Konnect Metering & Billing in Motion

[Product Releases](/blog)Product ReleasesJanuary 22, 2026

We've talked about why 2026 is the year of AI unit economics . There, we explored the "2025 hangover" where organizations realized that without financial governance, AI isn't just a science project but has become a margin-bleeding cost center. But

Dan Temkin
[](https://konghq.com/blog/product-releases/konnect-metering-and-billing-demo)

## Ready to see Kong in action?

Get a personalized walkthrough of Kong's platform tailored to your architecture, use cases, and scale requirements.

[Get a Demo](/contact-sales)Get a Demo

## step-0

  • ## Company

    • [About Kong](/company/about-us)About Kong
    • [Customers](/customer-stories)Customers
    • [Careers](/company/careers)Careers
    • [Press](/company/press-room)Press
    • [Events](/events)Events
    • [Contact](/company/contact-us)Contact
    • [Pricing](/pricing)Pricing
      • Terms
      • Privacy
      • Trust and Compliance
  • ## Platform

    • [Kong AI Gateway](/products/kong-ai-gateway)Kong AI Gateway
    • [Kong Konnect](/products/kong-konnect)Kong Konnect
    • [Kong Gateway](/products/kong-gateway)Kong Gateway
    • [Kong Event Gateway](/products/event-gateway)Kong Event Gateway
    • [Kong Insomnia](/products/kong-insomnia)Kong Insomnia
    • [Documentation](https://developer.konghq.com)Documentation
    • [Book Demo](/contact-sales)Book Demo
  • ## Compare

    • [AI Gateway Alternatives](/performance-comparison/ai-gateway-alternatives)AI Gateway Alternatives
    • [Kong vs Apigee](/performance-comparison/kong-vs-apigee)Kong vs Apigee
    • [Kong vs IBM](/performance-comparison/ibm-api-connect-vs-kong)Kong vs IBM
    • [Kong vs Postman](/performance-comparison/kong-vs-postman)Kong vs Postman
    • [Kong vs Mulesoft](/performance-comparison/kong-vs-mulesoft)Kong vs Mulesoft
  • ## Explore More

    • [Open Banking API Solutions](/solutions/open-banking)Open Banking API Solutions
    • [API Governance Solutions](/solutions/api-governance)API Governance Solutions
    • [Istio API Gateway Integration](/solutions/istio-gateway)Istio API Gateway Integration
    • [Kubernetes API Management](/solutions/build-on-kubernetes)Kubernetes API Management
    • [API Gateway: Build vs Buy](/campaign/secure-api-scalability)API Gateway: Build vs Buy
    • [Kong vs Apigee](/performance-comparison/kong-vs-apigee)Kong vs Apigee
  • ## Open Source

    • [Kong Gateway](https://developer.konghq.com/gateway/install/)Kong Gateway
    • [Kuma](https://kuma.io/)Kuma
    • [Insomnia](https://insomnia.rest/)Insomnia
    • [Kong Community](/community)Kong Community

Kong enables the connectivity layer for the agentic era – securely connecting, governing, and monetizing APIs and AI tokens across any model or cloud.

  • English
  • Japanese
  • Frenchcoming soon
  • Spanishcoming soon
  • Germancoming soon
© Kong Inc. 2026
Interaction mode