Tyk Sync - Synchronize Tyk Environment With GitHub

Tyk Sync is designed to dump API configurations from a Tyk Dashboard, not directly from a Tyk Gateway.

Tyk Sync’s dump command is specifically designed to work with the Tyk Dashboard. The command requires a dashboard URL and API secret:

tyk-sync dump -d="http://dashboard-url" -s="dashboard-secret" -t="./output-directory"

There is no equivalent flag or functionality to dump configurations directly from a standalone Gateway. This is because:

1. The Dashboard serves as the central configuration repository in the Tyk architecture
2. The Gateway is primarily focused on runtime execution of those configurations
3. While Gateways can operate standalone, they don’t expose the same management APIs as the Dashboard

The three commands in Tyk Sync have distinct purposes and behaviors when managing API configurations:

sync

• Purpose: Comprehensive synchronization from a source (Git repo or file system) to Tyk Dashboard
• Behavior:
  • Creates new APIs, policies, and assets that exist in the source but not in the Dashboard
  • Updates existing APIs, policies, and assets that exist in both places
  • Deletes APIs, policies, and assets that exist in the Dashboard but not in the source (unless --no-delete flag is used)
• Use case: When you want to make the Dashboard exactly match your source repository

publish

• Purpose: Only adds new API configurations to Tyk Dashboard
• Behavior:
  • Creates new APIs, policies, and assets that don’t already exist in the Dashboard
  • Will not update existing items
  • Stops if it detects a collision (an API that already exists)
  • Will not delete anything
• Use case: When you want to add new APIs without affecting existing ones

update

• Purpose: Only updates existing API configurations in Tyk Dashboard
• Behavior:
  • Updates APIs, policies, and assets that already exist in the Dashboard
  • Will not create new items
  • Will not delete anything
• Use case: When you want to update existing APIs without adding new ones or removing any

In summary, “sync” is the most comprehensive operation (create + update + delete), “publish” only creates new items, and “update” only modifies existing items.

Tyk Sync allows you to dump configurations to a local directory, which can then be committed to a Git repository. This enables version control and easy synchronization across environments.

For example:

1. Dump configurations: tyk-sync dump -d http://dashboard:3000 -s secret -t ./configs
2. Commit to Git:

   cd configs
   git add .
   git commit -m "Update Tyk configurations"
   git push
   

Yes, you can store multiple API definitions, policies, and other Tyk resources in a single Git repository. Tyk Sync and Tyk Operator can work with multiple resources in the same directory.

Your repository structure might look like this:

tyk-configs/
├── apis/
│   ├── api1.yaml
│   └── api2.yaml
├── policies/
│   ├── policy1.yaml
│   └── policy2.yaml
└── tyk-operator/
    └── operator-context.yaml

To roll back changes made with Tyk Sync:

1. If you’re using Git, check out the previous version of your configurations:

   git checkout <previous-commit-hash>
   

2. Use Tyk Sync to publish the previous version:

   tyk-sync sync -d http://dashboard:3000 -s <secret> -p ./
   

It’s a good practice to maintain separate branches or tags for different environments to make rollbacks easier.