Plugin Type
Plugins are the building blocks that define how 1Gateway integrates with external products and internal services. They determine how data is collected, transformed, and delivered across systems.
All plugins fall into four categories:
- Inbound plugins bring data into 1Gateway (polling or webhook).
- Outbound plugins send data out of 1Gateway (direct API calls or via queues).
- Generic plugins handle routing and transformation inside 1Gateway.
- System plugins monitor and maintain platform health and reliability.
Inbound Plugins (Listener)
Inbound plugins collect data from external systems and send it as messages into 1Gateway. They normalize incoming data into a standard format that 1Gateway can process and route.
Types of Inbound Plugins
- Poller plugin – Polls for data from an external source at a configurable interval. Example: fetching tickets from a helpdesk system every 5 minutes.
- Webhook plugin – Waits for an external source to push data into 1Gateway (event-driven). Example: receiving alerts from a monitoring tool via webhook.
Outbound Plugins (Sender)
Outbound plugins deliver messages from 1Gateway to external systems using APIs or queues.
Types of Outbound Plugins
- Sender plugin – Sends messages from 1Gateway directly to an external system’s API.
- Queue sender plugin – Publishes messages to a queue that external system’s can subscribe to.
Poller vs Sender
| Capability | Poller | Sender |
|---|---|---|
| Execution | Runs on a schedule | Runs when a message is received |
| Receives messages | No | Yes |
| Publishes messages | Yes | Optional |
| Uses filters | No | Yes |
| Typical use case | Poll external systems | Send data to external systems |
Generic Plugins
Generic plugins are used inside 1Gateway to route, filter, or manipulate messages. They don’t directly connect to external systems but allow for flexible integration logic.
Typical use cases:
- Conditional routing based on message content.
- Normalizing or de-normalizing a message.
- Filtering messages before delivery.
- Duplicating messages to multiple destinations.
System Plugins
System plugins provide internal functionality within 1Gateway. They don’t interact with external systems, but instead support monitoring, fault handling, and reliability.
Examples:
- 1Gateway monitor plugin – Monitors 1Gateway health, performance, and metrics.
- dead_letter_queue plugin – Captures undeliverable messages for later inspection or reprocessing.