diff --git a/k8s/apps/agent-pod/console-ingress.yaml b/k8s/apps/agent-pod/console-ingress.yaml
index afc8229..a73fcc8 100644
--- a/k8s/apps/agent-pod/console-ingress.yaml
+++ b/k8s/apps/agent-pod/console-ingress.yaml
@@ -1,14 +1,27 @@
 # Exposes agent-hub at api.riotpiao.com/console (WebSocket) and /run
 # (trigger a new session) -- both are routes on the same hub.js service.
+#
+# Was ingressClassName: kong until Kong was retired on 2026-08-19. Pointed
+# straight at nginx rather than through the replacement Go gateway because that
+# gateway has no WebSocket upgrade support yet -- routing /console through it
+# would break the console outright. nginx handles the upgrade natively.
+#
+# Path precedence: the nginx Ingress api/api catch-alls `/` on this same host
+# to the gateway. nginx matches longest prefix first, so these three paths win
+# over `/` and the rest of the host still reaches the gateway.
 apiVersion: networking.k8s.io/v1
 kind: Ingress
 metadata:
   name: console
   namespace: agent-pod
   annotations:
-    konghq.com/strip-path: "false"
+    # A console WebSocket stays open across a whole agent session; nginx's 60s
+    # default read timeout would drop it mid-run.
+    nginx.ingress.kubernetes.io/proxy-read-timeout: "3600"
+    nginx.ingress.kubernetes.io/proxy-send-timeout: "3600"
+    nginx.ingress.kubernetes.io/proxy-buffering: "off"
 spec:
-  ingressClassName: kong
+  ingressClassName: nginx
   rules:
     - host: api.riotpiao.com
       http:
diff --git a/k8s/apps/api/AUTH-PLAN.md b/k8s/apps/api/AUTH-PLAN.md
deleted file mode 100644
index d3feb1c..0000000
--- a/k8s/apps/api/AUTH-PLAN.md
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,83 +0,0 @@
-# API Auth Layer — Authentik service account + Kong JWT (model invoke)
-
-Protect the model API (`api.riotpiao.com/*`, Kong OSS 3.9) so only an Authentik
-service account holding a valid **client_credentials** JWT can invoke the KServe
-models. "Invoke role" = **possession of a JWT from the dedicated model-invoke
-OAuth2 provider** (only the service account can obtain one).
-
-## Flow
-
-```
-service account ── client_credentials ──▶ Authentik token endpoint
-                    (client_id + secret)   https://authentik.riotpiao.com/application/o/token/
-        │
-        ▼  RS256 JWT (iss = https://authentik.riotpiao.com/application/o/model-invoke/)
-client ── Authorization: Bearer <jwt> ──▶ Kong (api.riotpiao.com/*)
-                                           jwt plugin: verify RS256 sig via Authentik JWKS,
-                                           check iss/exp → map to KongConsumer → allow
-                                           ▼
-                                        KServe model (reasoning / ornith / ...)
-```
-
-Kong OSS has no enterprise `openid-connect` plugin, so we use the built-in
-**`jwt`** plugin: it validates an RS256 signature against a public key we pin on
-a KongConsumer, keyed by the token's `iss`.
-
-## Changes
-
-### 1. Authentik (k8s/infra/iam/scripts/authentik-provision.py)
-- New **service account** user `model-invoker` (type `service_account`, no
-  password; Authentik issues an app-password/token for M2M).
-- New **OAuth2 provider + application** `model-invoke`:
-  - `client_type: confidential`, `grant_types: ["client_credentials"]`
-  - signing key = existing RS256 keypair (same as other providers)
-  - mappings: `openid` (+ optionally a static `invoke` scope) — no user scopes
-    needed for M2M.
-- Client secret written to k8s Secret `api/model-invoke-oidc`
-  (keys `client-id`, `client-secret`), labelled for whoever consumes it.
-- Bind the service account so it (and only it) can use the provider.
-
-### 2. Kong (k8s/apps/api/, new file `model-auth.yaml`)
-- **KongConsumer** `model-invoker` (ns api).
-- **`jwt` credential** on that consumer (a Secret of type
-  `konghq.com/v1/credential`):
-  - `algorithm: RS256`
-  - `key`  = the token `iss` → `https://authentik.riotpiao.com/application/o/model-invoke/`
-  - `rsa_public_key` = the PEM public key of Authentik's `model-invoke` signing
-    cert (fetched from Authentik JWKS / cert, stored in git or ksops).
-- **KongPlugin** `jwt-auth` (`plugin: jwt`, `config.claims_to_verify: [exp]`).
-
-### 3. Wire onto model routes (k8s/apps/api/llm-routes.yaml)
-- Add `jwt-auth` to each model Ingress's `konghq.com/plugins` annotation
-  (currently e.g. `llm-rewrite-reasoning`) → becomes
-  `llm-rewrite-reasoning,jwt-auth`.
-- Leave `/models` list route open OR protect too (decision).
-
-## Client usage (after build)
-```bash
-TOKEN=$(curl -s https://authentik.riotpiao.com/application/o/token/ \
-  -d grant_type=client_credentials \
-  -d client_id=model-invoke \
-  -d client_secret=<secret> \
-  -d scope=openid | jq -r .access_token)
-
-curl https://api.riotpiao.com/v1/chat/completions \
-  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" -d '{...}'
-```
-
-## Test plan
-1. No token → Kong returns 401.
-2. Valid client_credentials token → 200, model responds.
-3. Expired/garbage token → 401.
-4. Confirm the `/models` route behaviour matches the decision.
-
-## Open items / risks
-- Authentik `client_credentials` for a *service account* may require an
-  **app-password / JWT-assertion** flow rather than plain client_secret POST —
-  verify Authentik 2026.x M2M exactly (client_credentials with client_secret vs
-  the SA token). Adjust step 1 accordingly before wiring Kong.
-- Pinning `rsa_public_key`: Authentik key rotation would break it — document a
-  rotation runbook, or have the provision script re-export the cert PEM into the
-  Kong credential on each run (keeps them in sync, same idea as ksops secrets).
-- Kong `jwt` maps token→consumer by the `iss`=`key` match; ensure the provider's
-  issuer is stable.
diff --git a/k8s/apps/api/ingress.yaml b/k8s/apps/api/ingress.yaml
index 2897bf1..1e76a19 100644
--- a/k8s/apps/api/ingress.yaml
+++ b/k8s/apps/api/ingress.yaml
@@ -5,14 +5,17 @@
 #
 # nginx terminates TLS with the wildcard *.riotpiao.com cert (served as its
 # default-ssl-certificate, so no per-rule `tls:` block is needed) and forwards
-# plain HTTP to kong-proxy. Kong then does the real routing, from Ingresses
-# carrying `ingressClassName: kong`.
+# plain HTTP to the gateway.
 #
-# Catch-all `/` on purpose: everything under this host belongs to Kong. Listing
-# per-API paths here would duplicate Kong's routing table inside nginx, and the
-# two copies would drift.
+# Backend was kong-proxy:80 until Kong was retired on 2026-08-19; it is now the
+# Go gateway's Service, api-gateway:8080, deployed from rock/homelab-frontend.
+# Reverting the cutover is a change to these two lines and nothing else.
 #
-# In-cluster callers should prefer http://kong-proxy.api.svc.cluster.local
+# Catch-all `/` on purpose: everything under this host belongs to the gateway.
+# Listing per-API paths here would duplicate the gateway's routing table inside
+# nginx, and the two copies would drift.
+#
+# In-cluster callers should prefer http://api-gateway.api.svc.cluster.local:8080
 # directly. Resolving api.riotpiao.com sends them out to nginx and back in,
 # which is a pointless hairpin unless they need TLS or the public hostname.
 apiVersion: networking.k8s.io/v1
@@ -38,6 +41,6 @@ spec:
             pathType: Prefix
             backend:
               service:
-                name: kong-proxy
+                name: api-gateway
                 port:
-                  number: 80
+                  number: 8080
diff --git a/k8s/apps/api/kong-metrics.yaml b/k8s/apps/api/kong-metrics.yaml
deleted file mode 100644
index d490e06..0000000
--- a/k8s/apps/api/kong-metrics.yaml
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,19 +0,0 @@
-# Cluster-wide Kong Prometheus plugin -- `global: "true"` label makes the
-# ingress controller apply it to every route on this Kong instance, so all
-# five LLM routes (ornith/reasoning/qwen/embeddings/rerank) get RED metrics
-# without touching llm-routes.yaml. Scraped via kong-values.yaml's
-# serviceMonitor (status listener, already on by chart default at :8100).
-apiVersion: configuration.konghq.com/v1
-kind: KongClusterPlugin
-metadata:
-  name: prometheus
-  annotations:
-    kubernetes.io/ingress.class: kong
-  labels:
-    global: "true"
-plugin: prometheus
-config:
-  status_code_metrics: true
-  latency_metrics: true
-  bandwidth_metrics: true
-  upstream_health_metrics: true
diff --git a/k8s/apps/api/kong-values.yaml b/k8s/apps/api/kong-values.yaml
deleted file mode 100644
index 8f284e5..0000000
--- a/k8s/apps/api/kong-values.yaml
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,140 +0,0 @@
-# Kong Gateway — cluster-internal API gateway (namespace `api`).
-#
-# Chart: kong/kong 3.4.1 (appVersion 3.9). Only overrides are listed; every key
-# here was checked against `helm show values kong/kong --version 3.4.1`, because
-# Helm silently ignores unknown keys — a typo is a no-op, not an error.
-#
-# ── Topology ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
-#   external:  client -> nginx (TLS, wildcard *.riotpiao.com) -> kong-proxy:80
-#   internal:  pod    -> kong-proxy.api.svc.cluster.local:80
-#
-# nginx stays the single edge and the only LoadBalancer (192.168.1.160). Kong is
-# the policy/routing layer behind it, so it needs no LB IP and no TLS of its own
-# — hence ClusterIP and proxy.tls disabled. Giving Kong its own IP from
-# homelab-pool would mean duplicating cert-manager wiring and diverging from the
-# CoreDNS convention that sends every *.riotpiao.com host to nginx.
-#
-# ── Routing model ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
-# Consumers publish an Ingress with `ingressClassName: kong`; the controller
-# turns it into a Kong route. `nginx` remains the default IngressClass, so this
-# is strictly opt-in and no existing Ingress changes behaviour.
-
-# Without this the release name is prefixed onto everything (`kong-kong-proxy`).
-# Pinning it keeps the Service name stable and independent of the release name,
-# which matters because the nginx Ingress in k8s/bootstrap/ingress/ingress.yaml
-# references it by name.
-fullnameOverride: kong
-
-# Two replicas so a node drain or rollout doesn't take the gateway down. Kong is
-# stateless in DB-less mode, so replicas are pure redundancy.
-replicaCount: 2
-
-# Opt in to the `llm-serving-default-deny` NetworkPolicy, which admits port 8080
-# only from pods carrying this label. That policy is a compensating control, not
-# hygiene: vLLM v0.11.0 is frozen on Volta and will never receive patches for
-# several remote/unauthenticated advisories, so it must not be broadly reachable.
-#
-# Without this label Cilium DROPS the packets rather than refusing them, so the
-# symptom is a request that hangs until the client's timeout — not a connection
-# error. /v1/models still worked while this was missing, because
-# request-termination answers inside Kong and never touches an upstream.
-podLabels:
-  llm-client: "true"
-
-env:
-  # DB-less. Config comes from Kubernetes objects via the ingress controller, so
-  # git stays the source of truth. A Postgres-backed Kong would put live routing
-  # config in a database mutated through the Admin API — state outside git, plus
-  # migration Jobs on every upgrade.
-  database: "off"
-  # `nginx_proxy_<directive>` injects a directive into the proxy location block;
-  # this renders `proxy_buffering off;`.
-  #
-  # Required for LLM streaming. With buffering on (the default) nginx accumulates
-  # the upstream response before forwarding, so an SSE stream from
-  # `"stream": true` arrives in lumps or stalls until the generation finishes —
-  # which defeats the point of streaming. The matching setting is already on the
-  # nginx Ingress in ingress.yaml; both hops have to be unbuffered or the
-  # buffered one dominates.
-  nginx_proxy_proxy_buffering: "off"
-  # Any plugin that rewrites the request body — request-transformer on the
-  # llm-chat-* routes — reads it through `kong.request.get_body()`, and that
-  # returns nothing once nginx has spilled the body past
-  # client_body_buffer_size into a temp file. The plugin then re-serializes a
-  # body with no `messages`, and the upstream answers
-  #   HTTP 400 {"error":{"message":"[] is too short - 'messages'"}}
-  # Measured on /v1/ornith/chat/completions: 10588 B -> 200, 11088 B -> 400.
-  # An agent request carrying tool schemas clears that in one turn, so the
-  # buffer has to hold a whole conversation, not a chat message.
-  nginx_http_client_body_buffer_size: "16m"
-  nginx_http_client_max_body_size: "16m"
-
-ingressController:
-  enabled: true
-  ingressClass: kong
-  # The chart's ingress-class template is gated on
-  # `.Capabilities.APIVersions.Has "networking.k8s.io/v1/IngressClass"`, so a
-  # bare `helm template` renders nothing. ArgoCD passes --api-versions from the
-  # live cluster, so it does render there — verify `kubectl get ingressclass
-  # kong` after the first sync rather than assuming it.
-  createIngressClass: true
-  # Deliberately empty: setting is-default-class here would hijack every Ingress
-  # in the cluster that omits ingressClassName. nginx keeps that role.
-  ingressClassAnnotations: {}
-
-proxy:
-  enabled: true
-  # Chart default is LoadBalancer, which would claim an IP from homelab-pool.
-  type: ClusterIP
-  http:
-    enabled: true
-    servicePort: 80
-    containerPort: 8000
-  # nginx already terminated TLS; a second handshake to the same cluster buys
-  # nothing and would need Kong to hold its own certificate.
-  tls:
-    enabled: false
-
-# No Service for the Admin API. The controller reaches it over localhost inside
-# the pod, so exposing it would only create an unauthenticated write path to the
-# gateway's entire configuration.
-admin:
-  enabled: false
-
-# Kong Manager UI — chart default is `enabled: true` with type NodePort, which
-# would open a port on every node. Not wanted.
-manager:
-  enabled: false
-
-resources:
-  requests:
-    cpu: 200m
-    memory: 256Mi
-  limits:
-    cpu: "2"
-    memory: 1Gi
-
-podDisruptionBudget:
-  enabled: true
-  minAvailable: 1
-
-# Status listener (metrics/health) is on by default at :8100 (chart default,
-# verified via `helm show values`). This just wires the ServiceMonitor the
-# chart already knows how to generate for it, so kong_http_requests_total /
-# kong_latency_* / kong_bandwidth_bytes land in Prometheus. Paired with the
-# cluster-wide `prometheus` KongClusterPlugin in kong-metrics.yaml.
-serviceMonitor:
-  enabled: true
-  labels:
-    release: kube-prometheus-stack
-
-# Spread the two replicas across nodes; `ScheduleAnyway` so a single-node
-# situation degrades to co-location instead of leaving a pod Pending.
-topologySpreadConstraints:
-  - maxSkew: 1
-    topologyKey: kubernetes.io/hostname
-    whenUnsatisfiable: ScheduleAnyway
-    labelSelector:
-      matchLabels:
-        app.kubernetes.io/name: kong
-        app.kubernetes.io/instance: kong
diff --git a/k8s/apps/api/kustomization.yaml b/k8s/apps/api/kustomization.yaml
index 5a9ea06..34c6f09 100644
--- a/k8s/apps/api/kustomization.yaml
+++ b/k8s/apps/api/kustomization.yaml
@@ -1,14 +1,14 @@
 apiVersion: kustomize.config.k8s.io/v1beta1
 kind: Kustomization
-# Explicit allowlist so kong-values.yaml in this directory is NOT treated as a
-# manifest — it is Helm input consumed by the chart source of the `kong`
-# Application, not a Kubernetes object. Anything new added here must be listed
-# or it is silently dropped with no error and no drift shown.
+# Explicit allowlist. Anything added to this directory and not listed here is
+# silently dropped — no error, no drift shown.
+#
+# Down to a single Ingress since Kong was retired (2026-08-19). The Kong Helm
+# values, the KongClusterPlugin for Prometheus, the six KongPlugin CRs behind
+# the path-per-model LLM surface, the KongConsumer and the key-auth plan all
+# went with it.
 resources:
   - ingress.yaml
-  - kong-metrics.yaml
-  - llm-routes.yaml
-  - model-auth.yaml
 # No top-level `namespace:` transformer on purpose: ingress.yaml sets its own
 # namespace, and the transformer rewrites metadata.namespace on every resource
 # it builds, which is a trap for anything cross-namespace added later.
diff --git a/k8s/apps/api/llm-routes.yaml b/k8s/apps/api/llm-routes.yaml
deleted file mode 100644
index e33d3fe..0000000
--- a/k8s/apps/api/llm-routes.yaml
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,288 +0,0 @@
-# LLM API surface on the Kong gateway — DeepSeek/OpenAI-shaped.
-#
-# These live in namespace `llm-serving`, not `api`, because a Kubernetes Ingress
-# can only reference a Service in its own namespace and the predictor Services
-# are there. The Kong ingress controller watches all namespaces, so the routes
-# still land on the gateway. They are synced by the `kong` Application (which
-# has a `path: k8s/apps/api` source) so all gateway config stays in one place.
-#
-# ── Model -> upstream map (verified live) ───────────────────────────────────
-#   reasoning              -> reasoning-predictor   vLLM, DeepSeek-R1-Distill-32B, 2 replicas
-#   ornith:35b             -> ornith-predictor      Ollama, 2 replicas (retired verifier-
-#   qwen2.5:3b-instruct    -> ornith-predictor      Ollama   predictor's vLLM PRM slot to get
-#                                                    the 2nd GPU) -- k8s Service load-balances
-#                                                    across both, each replica loads both
-#                                                    models, so 2 concurrent implementer-style
-#                                                    calls each land on an independent instance
-#   nomic-embed-text-v2    -> embeddings-predictor  TEI
-#   bge-reranker-base      -> reranker-predictor    TEI
-#
-# ── Why path-per-model, and why the body is rewritten ───────────────────────
-# Kong matches routes on host, path, method and headers — never on the request
-# body. So a single /v1/chat/completions endpoint that dispatches on the body's
-# `model` field is not expressible in Kong OSS (`ai-proxy-advanced`, which does
-# multi-target model routing, is Enterprise-only).
-#
-# Hence the model is in the path, and each chat route force-overwrites `model`
-# in the body regardless, so a client calling /v1/qwen/... with some other
-# `model` value in the body can't silently get routed to the wrong weights.
-# Callers may omit `model` entirely.
-#
-# ── Timeouts ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
-# Kong's upstream timeouts default to 60000ms. A 32B model generating a long
-# answer on a Volta GPU routinely exceeds that, and the client would see a
-# 504 mid-generation. Raised to 1h on every LLM route. Values are milliseconds.
-
-# ── GET /v1/models ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
-# Served entirely by Kong via request-termination: the plugin short-circuits in
-# the access phase, so the backend below is never contacted. It only exists
-# because an Ingress rule requires a backend.
-#
-# The list is static, which means it can drift from what the engines actually
-# serve — notably if the Ollama pull list in the ornith InferenceService
-# changes. Verify with:
-#   curl -s $SVC/v1/models   (against each *-predictor)
-apiVersion: configuration.konghq.com/v1
-kind: KongPlugin
-metadata:
-  name: llm-models-list
-  namespace: llm-serving
-plugin: request-termination
-config:
-  status_code: 200
-  content_type: application/json
-  body: |
-    {"object":"list","data":[
-      {"id":"reasoning","object":"model","owned_by":"homelab","created":0},
-      {"id":"ornith:35b","object":"model","owned_by":"homelab","created":0},
-      {"id":"qwen2.5:3b-instruct","object":"model","owned_by":"homelab","created":0},
-      {"id":"nomic-ai/nomic-embed-text-v2-moe","object":"model","owned_by":"homelab","created":0},
-      {"id":"BAAI/bge-reranker-base","object":"model","owned_by":"homelab","created":0}
-    ]}
----
-apiVersion: networking.k8s.io/v1
-kind: Ingress
-metadata:
-  name: llm-models
-  namespace: llm-serving
-  annotations:
-    konghq.com/plugins: llm-models-list # model-key-auth stripped -- see model-auth.yaml
-    konghq.com/strip-path: "false"
-    konghq.com/methods: "GET"
-spec:
-  ingressClassName: kong
-  rules:
-    - host: api.riotpiao.com
-      http:
-        paths:
-          - path: /v1/models
-            pathType: Exact
-            backend:
-              # Never actually called — request-termination answers first.
-              service:
-                name: reasoning-predictor
-                port:
-                  number: 80
----
-# ── POST /v1/reasoning/chat/completions ─────────────────────────────────────
-apiVersion: configuration.konghq.com/v1
-kind: KongPlugin
-metadata:
-  name: llm-rewrite-reasoning
-  namespace: llm-serving
-plugin: request-transformer
-config:
-  # `add` only applies when the field is absent, `replace` only when present.
-  # Both are needed to force the value in either case.
-  add:
-    body:
-      - "model:reasoning"
-  replace:
-    body:
-      - "model:reasoning"
-    # The model lives in the path for routing; the upstream still expects the
-    # canonical OpenAI path.
-    uri: /v1/chat/completions
----
-apiVersion: networking.k8s.io/v1
-kind: Ingress
-metadata:
-  name: llm-chat-reasoning
-  namespace: llm-serving
-  annotations:
-    konghq.com/plugins: llm-rewrite-reasoning # model-key-auth stripped -- see model-auth.yaml
-    konghq.com/strip-path: "false"
-    konghq.com/methods: "POST"
-    konghq.com/connect-timeout: "10000"
-    konghq.com/read-timeout: "3600000"
-    konghq.com/write-timeout: "3600000"
-spec:
-  ingressClassName: kong
-  rules:
-    - host: api.riotpiao.com
-      http:
-        paths:
-          - path: /v1/reasoning/chat/completions
-            pathType: Prefix
-            backend:
-              service:
-                name: reasoning-predictor
-                port:
-                  number: 80
----
-# ── POST /v1/ornith/chat/completions ────────────────────────────────────────
-apiVersion: configuration.konghq.com/v1
-kind: KongPlugin
-metadata:
-  name: llm-rewrite-ornith
-  namespace: llm-serving
-plugin: request-transformer
-config:
-  add:
-    body:
-      - "model:ornith:35b"
-  replace:
-    body:
-      - "model:ornith:35b"
-    uri: /v1/chat/completions
----
-apiVersion: networking.k8s.io/v1
-kind: Ingress
-metadata:
-  name: llm-chat-ornith
-  namespace: llm-serving
-  annotations:
-    konghq.com/plugins: llm-rewrite-ornith # model-key-auth stripped -- see model-auth.yaml
-    konghq.com/strip-path: "false"
-    konghq.com/methods: "POST"
-    konghq.com/connect-timeout: "10000"
-    konghq.com/read-timeout: "3600000"
-    konghq.com/write-timeout: "3600000"
-spec:
-  ingressClassName: kong
-  rules:
-    - host: api.riotpiao.com
-      http:
-        paths:
-          - path: /v1/ornith/chat/completions
-            pathType: Prefix
-            backend:
-              service:
-                name: ornith-predictor
-                port:
-                  number: 80
----
-# ── POST /v1/qwen/chat/completions ──────────────────────────────────────────
-# Same upstream pod as ornith — only the forced body `model` differs. Both stay
-# resident because the engine runs with OLLAMA_MAX_LOADED_MODELS=2 and
-# OLLAMA_KEEP_ALIVE=-1, so this does not trigger a model swap per request.
-apiVersion: configuration.konghq.com/v1
-kind: KongPlugin
-metadata:
-  name: llm-rewrite-qwen
-  namespace: llm-serving
-plugin: request-transformer
-config:
-  add:
-    body:
-      - "model:qwen2.5:3b-instruct"
-  replace:
-    body:
-      - "model:qwen2.5:3b-instruct"
-    uri: /v1/chat/completions
----
-apiVersion: networking.k8s.io/v1
-kind: Ingress
-metadata:
-  name: llm-chat-qwen
-  namespace: llm-serving
-  annotations:
-    konghq.com/plugins: llm-rewrite-qwen # model-key-auth stripped -- see model-auth.yaml
-    konghq.com/strip-path: "false"
-    konghq.com/methods: "POST"
-    konghq.com/connect-timeout: "10000"
-    konghq.com/read-timeout: "3600000"
-    konghq.com/write-timeout: "3600000"
-spec:
-  ingressClassName: kong
-  rules:
-    - host: api.riotpiao.com
-      http:
-        paths:
-          - path: /v1/qwen/chat/completions
-            pathType: Prefix
-            backend:
-              service:
-                name: ornith-predictor
-                port:
-                  number: 80
----
-# ── POST /v1/embeddings ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────
-# No path-per-model and no rewrite: there is exactly one embeddings backend, so
-# there is nothing to disambiguate, and TEI already serves the canonical
-# OpenAI path (verified: /v1/embeddings returns 405 to GET, i.e. it exists).
-# That makes an OpenAI SDK a drop-in here.
-apiVersion: networking.k8s.io/v1
-kind: Ingress
-metadata:
-  name: llm-embeddings
-  namespace: llm-serving
-  annotations:
-    konghq.com/strip-path: "false"
-    konghq.com/methods: "POST"
-    konghq.com/connect-timeout: "10000"
-    konghq.com/read-timeout: "600000"
-    konghq.com/write-timeout: "600000"
-spec:
-  ingressClassName: kong
-  rules:
-    - host: api.riotpiao.com
-      http:
-        paths:
-          - path: /v1/embeddings
-            pathType: Prefix
-            backend:
-              service:
-                name: embeddings-predictor
-                port:
-                  number: 80
----
-# ── POST /v1/rerank ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
-# Rerank is not part of the OpenAI spec, and TEI serves it at /rerank — probing
-# /v1/rerank returned 404 while /rerank returned 405, so this one genuinely
-# needs the rewrite that embeddings does not.
-apiVersion: configuration.konghq.com/v1
-kind: KongPlugin
-metadata:
-  name: llm-rewrite-rerank
-  namespace: llm-serving
-plugin: request-transformer
-config:
-  replace:
-    uri: /rerank
----
-apiVersion: networking.k8s.io/v1
-kind: Ingress
-metadata:
-  name: llm-rerank
-  namespace: llm-serving
-  annotations:
-    konghq.com/plugins: llm-rewrite-rerank # model-key-auth stripped -- see model-auth.yaml
-    konghq.com/strip-path: "false"
-    konghq.com/methods: "POST"
-    konghq.com/connect-timeout: "10000"
-    konghq.com/read-timeout: "600000"
-    konghq.com/write-timeout: "600000"
-spec:
-  ingressClassName: kong
-  rules:
-    - host: api.riotpiao.com
-      http:
-        paths:
-          - path: /v1/rerank
-            pathType: Prefix
-            backend:
-              service:
-                name: reranker-predictor
-                port:
-                  number: 80
diff --git a/k8s/apps/api/model-auth.yaml b/k8s/apps/api/model-auth.yaml
deleted file mode 100644
index 10d325d..0000000
--- a/k8s/apps/api/model-auth.yaml
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,45 +0,0 @@
-# API auth layer — Kong key-auth on the model routes.
-#
-# TEMPORARILY RETIRED: verified live that Kong's key-auth here does not accept
-# `Authorization: Bearer <key>` the way the comment below used to claim — a
-# raw `apikey: <key>` header succeeds (200), the same request with only
-# `Authorization: Bearer <key>` fails (401). No OpenAI-SDK-compatible client
-# (pi included) sends a raw apikey header or lets you customize the header
-# name, so every such client was hard-blocked. The KongPlugin below is
-# commented out and every route's `konghq.com/plugins` annotation in
-# llm-routes.yaml has `model-key-auth` stripped, so the model routes are
-# unauthenticated for now. Re-enable once there's a Bearer-compatible fix
-# (e.g. a request-transformer that copies the Bearer token into an `apikey`
-# header before key-auth runs) — do not just uncomment this as-is, that
-# reintroduces the exact block every real client hits.
-#
-# The key itself lives in the ksops-managed Secret model-invoke-apikey
-# (labelled konghq.com/credential: key-auth) and is bound to the KongConsumer
-# below, which stays defined (harmless without the plugin) so re-enabling
-# later is a two-line uncomment instead of a rebuild.
----
-apiVersion: configuration.konghq.com/v1
-kind: KongConsumer
-metadata:
-  name: model-invoker
-  namespace: api
-  annotations:
-    kubernetes.io/ingress.class: kong
-username: model-invoker
-credentials:
-  - model-invoke-apikey
-# ---
-# apiVersion: configuration.konghq.com/v1
-# kind: KongPlugin
-# metadata:
-#   name: model-key-auth
-#   namespace: llm-serving
-# plugin: key-auth
-# config:
-#   key_names:
-#     - apikey
-#     - authorization
-#   key_in_header: true
-#   key_in_query: false
-#   key_in_body: false
-#   hide_credentials: true
diff --git a/k8s/apps/llm-serving/ornith.yaml b/k8s/apps/llm-serving/ornith.yaml
index a4ab0d2..97189f3 100644
--- a/k8s/apps/llm-serving/ornith.yaml
+++ b/k8s/apps/llm-serving/ornith.yaml
@@ -3,20 +3,15 @@ kind: InferenceService
 metadata:
   annotations:
     serving.kserve.io/deploymentMode: RawDeployment
-    # Kong reads its timeouts from the Kubernetes Service, not the Ingress —
-    # Ingress annotations configure Route entities (strip-path, methods,
-    # plugins), these configure the Service entity. They were on
-    # llm-chat-ornith's Ingress and therefore ignored, leaving Kong's 60s
-    # default in force. KServe propagates InferenceService annotations to the
-    # Service it generates, which is how they reach Kong from here.
+    # The konghq.com/{connect,read,write}-timeout annotations that used to live
+    # here went with Kong (retired 2026-08-19). They existed because Kong read
+    # its upstream timeouts off the Kubernetes Service, and its 60s default cut
+    # off the first request after any pod restart — a restart flushes VRAM and
+    # reloading ornith:35b takes longer than that. OLLAMA_KEEP_ALIVE=-1 hid the
+    # problem in steady state.
     #
-    # This was invisible while OLLAMA_KEEP_ALIVE=-1 kept the model resident: no
-    # request ever waited on a cold load. A pod restart flushes VRAM, and
-    # loading ornith:35b takes longer than 60s, so the first request after any
-    # restart returned 504.
-    konghq.com/connect-timeout: "10000"
-    konghq.com/read-timeout: "3600000"
-    konghq.com/write-timeout: "3600000"
+    # The equivalent budget now belongs to the Go gateway's per-route timeout
+    # config in rock/homelab-frontend, not to an annotation on this object.
   labels:
     app.kubernetes.io/name: llm-ornith
     app.kubernetes.io/part-of: llm-serving
diff --git a/k8s/argocd/apps/55-api-gateway.yaml b/k8s/argocd/apps/55-api-gateway.yaml
index 8da65c8..406a602 100644
--- a/k8s/argocd/apps/55-api-gateway.yaml
+++ b/k8s/argocd/apps/55-api-gateway.yaml
@@ -1,39 +1,44 @@
-# Wave 7 — Kong, the cluster's internal API gateway (namespace `api`).
+# Wave 7 — api-gw, the cluster's API gateway (namespace `api`).
 #
-# Sits between nginx and the backend services: nginx owns the edge and TLS,
-# Kong owns routing policy, auth and rate limiting. Wave 7 puts it after the
-# data/messaging tiers it fronts and before the wave-8 applications that
-# publish routes into it.
+# Replaces Kong OSS 3.4.1, removed 2026-08-19. Kong existed to route
+# `api.riotpiao.com`, but Kong OSS cannot dispatch on a request body, so the
+# LLM surface had to be expressed as one path per model
+# (`/v1/reasoning/chat/completions`, `/v1/ornith/...`, `/v1/qwen/...`) with a
+# `request-transformer` plugin forcing the body's `model` field on each. The Go
+# gateway reads the body and picks the upstream, so a single canonical
+# `POST /v1/chat/completions` covers every model. See
+# docs/adr/ADR-0001-retire-kong-for-go-gateway.md in the frontend repo.
 #
-# DB-less: routing config comes from Kubernetes objects (Ingress with
-# `ingressClassName: kong`, plus KongPlugin/KongConsumer CRDs), so git remains
-# the source of truth and there are no migration Jobs on upgrade.
+# Two sources:
+#   1. rock/homelab-frontend on the in-cluster Forgejo — the gateway's own
+#      kustomization (Deployment, Service, ConfigMap, RBAC, NetworkPolicy). It
+#      sets `namespace: api` itself, so no transformer is needed here. The
+#      Forgejo host must stay listed in the `homelab` AppProject sourceRepos or
+#      this Application is rejected with "is not permitted in project".
+#   2. k8s/apps/api in this repo — the nginx edge Ingress for
+#      api.riotpiao.com, inherited from the retired `kong` Application. It
+#      cannot move to k8s/bootstrap/ingress/ingress.yaml because that syncs in
+#      wave 1, before namespace `api` exists.
 #
-# CRDs ship in the chart's crds/ directory; ArgoCD applies those by default
-# (helm.skipCrds is left false).
+# No resources-finalizer: deleting this Application leaves the workload running
+# rather than cascading the delete.
 apiVersion: argoproj.io/v1alpha1
 kind: Application
 metadata:
-  name: kong
+  name: api-gw
   namespace: argocd
+  labels:
+    app.kubernetes.io/name: api-gateway
+    app.kubernetes.io/component: gateway
   annotations:
     argocd.argoproj.io/sync-wave: "7"
 spec:
   project: homelab
   revisionHistoryLimit: 3
   sources:
-    - repoURL: https://charts.konghq.com
-      chart: kong
-      targetRevision: "3.4.1"
-      helm:
-        valueFiles:
-          - $values/k8s/apps/api/kong-values.yaml
-    - repoURL: https://github.com/Riotpiaole/riotpiao.homelab.com.git
+    - repoURL: https://forgejo.riotpiao.com/rock/homelab-frontend.git
       targetRevision: main
-      ref: values
-    # The nginx Ingress for api.riotpiao.com. Kept in this Application rather
-    # than the central k8s/bootstrap/ingress/ingress.yaml because that one syncs
-    # in wave 1, before namespace `api` exists.
+      path: k8s
     - repoURL: https://github.com/Riotpiaole/riotpiao.homelab.com.git
       targetRevision: main
       path: k8s/apps/api
@@ -46,13 +51,9 @@ spec:
       selfHeal: true
     syncOptions:
       - CreateNamespace=true
-      # The chart's CRDs exceed the annotation size limit that client-side
-      # apply relies on; server-side apply avoids the
-      # "metadata.annotations: Too long" failure CRDs commonly hit.
-      - ServerSideApply=true
     retry:
-      limit: 3
+      limit: 5
       backoff:
-        duration: 10s
+        duration: 5s
         factor: 2
         maxDuration: 3m
diff --git a/k8s/argocd/apps/56-llm-serving.yaml b/k8s/argocd/apps/56-llm-serving.yaml
index 5544104..e712e7f 100644
--- a/k8s/argocd/apps/56-llm-serving.yaml
+++ b/k8s/argocd/apps/56-llm-serving.yaml
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 # Wave 6 — the model servers behind api.riotpiao.com (namespace `llm-serving`).
 #
-# Syncs before wave 7 (Kong), so the predictor Services exist before the routes
-# that point at them. KServe itself is part of the substrate; this Application
+# Syncs before wave 7 (api-gw), so the predictor Services exist before the
+# gateway that routes to them. KServe itself is part of the substrate; this Application
 # owns only the InferenceServices.
 #
 # Adopted from live state on 2026-08-15. These five had been `kubectl apply`-ed
diff --git a/k8s/bootstrap/ingress/ingress.yaml b/k8s/bootstrap/ingress/ingress.yaml
index 5ad7e2d..0999300 100644
--- a/k8s/bootstrap/ingress/ingress.yaml
+++ b/k8s/bootstrap/ingress/ingress.yaml
@@ -300,10 +300,11 @@ spec:
                 port:
                   number: 8080
 ---
-# NOTE: api.riotpiao.com (Kong) is deliberately NOT here. Its namespace `api` is
+# NOTE: api.riotpiao.com is deliberately NOT here. Its namespace `api` is
 # created in wave 7, and this Application syncs in wave 1 — an Ingress into a
 # namespace that doesn't exist yet would fail and mark this whole app
-# SyncFailed. It lives in k8s/apps/api/ingress.yaml, synced with Kong itself.
+# SyncFailed. It lives in k8s/apps/api/ingress.yaml, synced by the api-gw
+# Application.
 apiVersion: networking.k8s.io/v1
 kind: Ingress
 metadata:
diff --git a/k8s/infra/monitoring/dashboards/llm-frontend.yaml b/k8s/infra/monitoring/dashboards/llm-frontend.yaml
index 8537562..ed5b4e4 100644
--- a/k8s/infra/monitoring/dashboards/llm-frontend.yaml
+++ b/k8s/infra/monitoring/dashboards/llm-frontend.yaml
@@ -7,15 +7,22 @@ metadata:
     grafana_dashboard: "1"
   annotations:
     grafana_folder: "LLM"
-    # Request rate/error/latency/bandwidth now come from Kong's prometheus
-    # plugin (KongClusterPlugin in kong-metrics.yaml, global: true) via the
-    # chart's own ServiceMonitor (kong-values.yaml serviceMonitor.enabled) --
-    # every LLM route runs through Kong, so this covers ornith/reasoning/qwen/
-    # embeddings/rerank uniformly without per-backend instrumentation.
-    # Token-count metrics are still not available: that needs response-body
-    # parsing, which Kong only does via ai-proxy-advanced (Enterprise-only).
-    # Predictor-level metrics (native Ollama/vLLM stats) also still need a
-    # dedicated exporter -- not added here.
+    # No request-level panels. The rate/error/latency/bandwidth row used to run
+    # on Kong's prometheus plugin; Kong was retired 2026-08-19 and the Go
+    # gateway that replaced it does not expose /metrics yet, so those panels
+    # were removed rather than left querying series that no longer exist.
+    # What is left is pod-level: readiness, CPU/memory, restarts, logs.
+    #
+    # Restoring request-level and per-model observability means wiring three
+    # sources, none of which are in place: gateway metrics (RED plus token
+    # counts and TTFT, which the gateway can measure because it sees the
+    # response stream), vLLM's own /metrics on reasoning-predictor (rich --
+    # vllm:time_to_first_token_seconds, vllm:inter_token_latency_seconds,
+    # vllm:e2e_request_latency_seconds, vllm:kv_cache_usage_perc), and TEI's
+    # /metrics on embeddings/reranker. Ollama exposes no Prometheus endpoint at
+    # all (verified: /metrics returns 404), so ornith can only ever be observed
+    # from the gateway side. No ServiceMonitor exists for the llm-serving
+    # namespace today, so none of the engine metrics are being scraped.
 data:
   llm-frontend.json: |
-    {"title":"LLM Frontend","uid":"llm-frontend","schemaVersion":39,"timezone":"browser","time":{"from":"now-6h","to":"now"},"refresh":"30s","panels":[{"id":1,"title":"Row: Availability","type":"row","collapsed":true,"gridPos":{"h":1,"w":24,"x":0,"y":0},"panels":[{"id":2,"title":"llm-serving pods ready","type":"stat","gridPos":{"h":4,"w":8,"x":0,"y":1},"datasource":{"type":"prometheus","uid":"prometheus"},"targets":[{"expr":"sum(kube_pod_status_ready{namespace=\"llm-serving\",condition=\"true\"})"}]},{"id":3,"title":"agent-pod ready","type":"stat","gridPos":{"h":4,"w":8,"x":8,"y":1},"datasource":{"type":"prometheus","uid":"prometheus"},"targets":[{"expr":"sum(kube_pod_status_ready{namespace=\"agent-pod\",condition=\"true\"})"}]},{"id":4,"title":"kong (api) pods ready","type":"stat","gridPos":{"h":4,"w":8,"x":16,"y":1},"datasource":{"type":"prometheus","uid":"prometheus"},"targets":[{"expr":"sum(kube_pod_status_ready{namespace=\"api\",condition=\"true\"})"}]}]},{"id":10,"title":"Row: Resources","type":"row","collapsed":true,"gridPos":{"h":1,"w":24,"x":0,"y":1},"panels":[{"id":11,"title":"CPU by pod","type":"timeseries","gridPos":{"h":8,"w":12,"x":0,"y":2},"datasource":{"type":"prometheus","uid":"prometheus"},"targets":[{"expr":"sum(rate(container_cpu_usage_seconds_total{namespace=~\"llm-serving|agent-pod|api\"}[5m])) by (namespace, pod)","legendFormat":"{{namespace}}/{{pod}}"}]},{"id":12,"title":"Memory by pod","type":"timeseries","gridPos":{"h":8,"w":12,"x":12,"y":2},"fieldConfig":{"defaults":{"unit":"bytes"}},"datasource":{"type":"prometheus","uid":"prometheus"},"targets":[{"expr":"sum(container_memory_working_set_bytes{namespace=~\"llm-serving|agent-pod|api\"}) by (namespace, pod)","legendFormat":"{{namespace}}/{{pod}}"}]},{"id":13,"title":"GPU-node predictor restarts","type":"timeseries","gridPos":{"h":8,"w":24,"x":0,"y":10},"datasource":{"type":"prometheus","uid":"prometheus"},"targets":[{"expr":"sum(rate(kube_pod_container_status_restarts_total{namespace=\"llm-serving\"}[15m])) by (pod)","legendFormat":"{{pod}}"}]}]},{"id":15,"title":"Row: Request Rate & Latency (Kong)","type":"row","collapsed":true,"gridPos":{"h":1,"w":24,"x":0,"y":2},"panels":[{"id":16,"title":"Request rate by route","type":"timeseries","gridPos":{"h":8,"w":8,"x":0,"y":3},"datasource":{"type":"prometheus","uid":"prometheus"},"targets":[{"expr":"sum(rate(kong_http_requests_total{route=~\"llm-.*\"}[5m])) by (route)","legendFormat":"{{route}}"}]},{"id":17,"title":"Error rate %","type":"timeseries","gridPos":{"h":8,"w":8,"x":8,"y":3},"fieldConfig":{"defaults":{"unit":"percent"}},"datasource":{"type":"prometheus","uid":"prometheus"},"targets":[{"expr":"sum(rate(kong_http_requests_total{route=~\"llm-.*\",code=~\"5..\"}[5m])) / sum(rate(kong_http_requests_total{route=~\"llm-.*\"}[5m])) * 100"}]},{"id":18,"title":"p95 upstream latency","type":"timeseries","gridPos":{"h":8,"w":8,"x":16,"y":3},"fieldConfig":{"defaults":{"unit":"ms"}},"datasource":{"type":"prometheus","uid":"prometheus"},"targets":[{"expr":"histogram_quantile(0.95, sum(rate(kong_latency_bucket{route=~\"llm-.*\",type=\"upstream\"}[5m])) by (le, route))","legendFormat":"{{route}}"}]},{"id":19,"title":"Bandwidth by route","type":"timeseries","gridPos":{"h":8,"w":24,"x":0,"y":11},"fieldConfig":{"defaults":{"unit":"Bps"}},"datasource":{"type":"prometheus","uid":"prometheus"},"targets":[{"expr":"sum(rate(kong_bandwidth_bytes{route=~\"llm-.*\"}[5m])) by (route, direction)","legendFormat":"{{route}}/{{direction}}"}]}]},{"id":20,"title":"Row: Logs","type":"row","collapsed":true,"gridPos":{"h":1,"w":24,"x":0,"y":3},"panels":[{"id":21,"title":"llm-serving logs","type":"logs","gridPos":{"h":10,"w":24,"x":0,"y":4},"datasource":{"type":"loki","uid":"loki"},"targets":[{"expr":"{namespace=\"llm-serving\"}"}]},{"id":22,"title":"agent-pod logs (pi runs)","type":"logs","gridPos":{"h":10,"w":24,"x":0,"y":14},"datasource":{"type":"loki","uid":"loki"},"targets":[{"expr":"{namespace=\"agent-pod\"}"}]},{"id":23,"title":"api (kong) logs","type":"logs","gridPos":{"h":10,"w":24,"x":0,"y":24},"datasource":{"type":"loki","uid":"loki"},"targets":[{"expr":"{namespace=\"api\"}"}]}]}]}
+    {"title":"LLM Frontend","uid":"llm-frontend","schemaVersion":39,"timezone":"browser","time":{"from":"now-6h","to":"now"},"refresh":"30s","panels":[{"id":1,"title":"Row: Availability","type":"row","collapsed":true,"gridPos":{"h":1,"w":24,"x":0,"y":0},"panels":[{"id":2,"title":"llm-serving pods ready","type":"stat","gridPos":{"h":4,"w":8,"x":0,"y":1},"datasource":{"type":"prometheus","uid":"prometheus"},"targets":[{"expr":"sum(kube_pod_status_ready{namespace=\"llm-serving\",condition=\"true\"})"}]},{"id":3,"title":"agent-pod ready","type":"stat","gridPos":{"h":4,"w":8,"x":8,"y":1},"datasource":{"type":"prometheus","uid":"prometheus"},"targets":[{"expr":"sum(kube_pod_status_ready{namespace=\"agent-pod\",condition=\"true\"})"}]},{"id":4,"title":"api gateway pods ready","type":"stat","gridPos":{"h":4,"w":8,"x":16,"y":1},"datasource":{"type":"prometheus","uid":"prometheus"},"targets":[{"expr":"sum(kube_pod_status_ready{namespace=\"api\",condition=\"true\"})"}]}]},{"id":10,"title":"Row: Resources","type":"row","collapsed":true,"gridPos":{"h":1,"w":24,"x":0,"y":1},"panels":[{"id":11,"title":"CPU by pod","type":"timeseries","gridPos":{"h":8,"w":12,"x":0,"y":2},"datasource":{"type":"prometheus","uid":"prometheus"},"targets":[{"expr":"sum(rate(container_cpu_usage_seconds_total{namespace=~\"llm-serving|agent-pod|api\"}[5m])) by (namespace, pod)","legendFormat":"{{namespace}}/{{pod}}"}]},{"id":12,"title":"Memory by pod","type":"timeseries","gridPos":{"h":8,"w":12,"x":12,"y":2},"fieldConfig":{"defaults":{"unit":"bytes"}},"datasource":{"type":"prometheus","uid":"prometheus"},"targets":[{"expr":"sum(container_memory_working_set_bytes{namespace=~\"llm-serving|agent-pod|api\"}) by (namespace, pod)","legendFormat":"{{namespace}}/{{pod}}"}]},{"id":13,"title":"GPU-node predictor restarts","type":"timeseries","gridPos":{"h":8,"w":24,"x":0,"y":10},"datasource":{"type":"prometheus","uid":"prometheus"},"targets":[{"expr":"sum(rate(kube_pod_container_status_restarts_total{namespace=\"llm-serving\"}[15m])) by (pod)","legendFormat":"{{pod}}"}]}]},{"id":20,"title":"Row: Logs","type":"row","collapsed":true,"gridPos":{"h":1,"w":24,"x":0,"y":2},"panels":[{"id":21,"title":"llm-serving logs","type":"logs","gridPos":{"h":10,"w":24,"x":0,"y":4},"datasource":{"type":"loki","uid":"loki"},"targets":[{"expr":"{namespace=\"llm-serving\"}"}]},{"id":22,"title":"agent-pod logs (pi runs)","type":"logs","gridPos":{"h":10,"w":24,"x":0,"y":14},"datasource":{"type":"loki","uid":"loki"},"targets":[{"expr":"{namespace=\"agent-pod\"}"}]},{"id":23,"title":"api gateway logs","type":"logs","gridPos":{"h":10,"w":24,"x":0,"y":24},"datasource":{"type":"loki","uid":"loki"},"targets":[{"expr":"{namespace=\"api\"}"}]}]}]}