Throughservices

Throughservices is a design concept in distributed systems describing services whose primary role is to forward requests to downstream components while exposing a uniform external interface. In a throughservice, the implementation focuses on routing, protocol translation, or policy enforcement rather than executing core business logic. The approach is commonly realized in API gateways, reverse proxies, and service meshes, where the throughservice sits at the edge or between clients and backend services.

Key characteristics include being stateless, forwarding requests with minimal local processing, and applying cross-cutting concerns such as authentication, rate limiting, logging, or retries. Throughservices may perform light transformation, such as header normalization or path rewriting, but generally do not alter the underlying data or outcomes.

Use cases include API composition, protocol bridging, or a routing layer that enables centralized observability and security. Benefits include a consistent access point, easier client evolution, centralized policy enforcement, and improved observability. Drawbacks include potential latency, a bottleneck or single point of failure if not scaled, and the risk of obscuring underlying service boundaries or introducing unnecessary indirection.

Related concepts include API gateways, service meshes, reverse proxies, and architectural patterns that distinguish through services from orchestration or aggregation layers. In practice, the term is applied variably and may overlap with these patterns depending on organizational context.