spring-cloud / spring-cloud/spring-cloud-gateway

I wish someone could explain the difference of different modules in readme file

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Description

Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe.
It is hard for me to look at the difference of its modiules. I don't wanna check every source codes of each modules.

Describe the solution you'd like
I wish you could name the use cases of each project modules. If I encounter what problem, I should look for which project of the project collections.

Describe alternatives you've considered
Write a lot of words for when I should use which project in the readme file.

Module: spring-cloud-starter-gateway-server-webflux
Purpose: Modern reactive gateway, automatically configures routes, filters, and basic load balancing
Typical Commercial Use Cases: Ideal for new microservice projects, API routing, load balancing, and rate-limiting; minimal manual setup needed
Suitable for Commercial Use?: ✅ Recommended for commercial projects

Module: spring-cloud-starter-gateway-server-webmvc
Purpose: Traditional Servlet-based gateway, provides routes and filters in a blocking model
Typical Commercial Use Cases: Suitable for legacy Spring MVC applications that cannot adopt reactive programming
Suitable for Commercial Use?: ✅ Can be used, but new projects usually prefer WebFlux

Module: spring-cloud-gateway-server-webflux
Purpose: Core reactive gateway module without automatic Spring Boot Starter
Typical Commercial Use Cases: Use when you want full control over configuration, customize route handling, or integrate deeply with existing infrastructure
Suitable for Commercial Use?: ⚠️ Usable for commercial projects, but requires manual configuration

Module: spring-cloud-gateway-proxyexchange-webflux
Purpose: Advanced API for custom proxying, dynamic request forwarding, and manipulation
Typical Commercial Use Cases: For scenarios requiring dynamic routing, request transformation, or complex proxy logic beyond standard Gateway filters
Suitable for Commercial Use?: ⚠️ Only use when dynamic proxying or custom request handling is needed

Additional context
It is a bottleneck for me bcause I need commerical contexts to understand the techs.

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start with the repository README and review how the listed Gateway modules are currently described. Compare the WebFlux, WebMVC, starter, core, and proxy-exchange modules, then document their use cases and selection guidance; the README should let readers identify which module fits their needs without inspecting every source tree.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
java, spring, spring-boot
Domain
documentation
Issue type
Documentation
Difficulty
3/5
Estimated time
1-2 days
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
48/100

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