How Tinder’s API Gateway Handles A Billion Swipes Per Day

Tinder built TAG (Tinder API Gateway), a custom JVM-based framework on Spring Cloud Gateway, to handle over a billion swipes daily. The solution replaced fragmented third-party gateways with a unified framework that allows each team to deploy independent gateway instances. TAG features configuration-driven routing, global filters for geolocation and session management, custom middleware support, and integration with Envoy service mesh. The system processes requests through a defined pipeline including reverse geo IP lookup, request scanning, session validation, and configurable pre/post filters, enabling faster development cycles while maintaining security and performance at scale.