What is Elchi Envoy UI?

Elchi is an enterprise proxy management platform with a 3-process distributed architecture. It provides enterprise-grade features including intelligent configuration analysis via OpenRouter AI integration (bring your own API key), Kubernetes auto-discovery, multi-tenancy with 4-tier RBAC, comprehensive xDS protocol support, and automated health monitoring. It's designed for managing Envoy proxies at scale with modern UI and intelligent automation.

Is Elchi a free Envoy UI?

Yes, Elchi is completely free and open-source Envoy UI. It provides a modern web interface for Envoy proxy management without any licensing costs. You can find the source code on GitHub and deploy it in your own infrastructure.

What makes Elchi better than default Envoy admin UI?

Elchi provides a modern, user-friendly web interface compared to Envoy's basic admin UI. It offers visual configuration management, real-time validation, drag-and-drop functionality, and comprehensive proxy management features that the default Envoy admin interface lacks.

Does Elchi work with existing Envoy deployments?

Yes, Elchi integrates seamlessly with existing Envoy proxy deployments. It uses standard xDS protocols (ADS, CDS, EDS, LDS, RDS, VHDS) to communicate with Envoy proxies, making it compatible with any standard Envoy setup without requiring changes to your existing configuration.

What are the system requirements for Elchi?

Elchi requires Kubernetes 1.19+, Helm 3.2.0+, minimum 4GB RAM, 2 CPU cores, and a storage class for persistent volumes (optional for external databases). It can be deployed with built-in MongoDB and VictoriaMetrics or use external instances.

How do I install Elchi?

Install Elchi using Helm: 1) Add the repository: 'helm repo add elchi https://charts.elchi.io', 2) Update repos: 'helm repo update', 3) Install: 'helm install my-elchi elchi/elchi-stack --set-string global.mainAddress="your-domain.com"'. Default login is admin/admin.

What protocols does Elchi support?

Elchi supports all Envoy xDS protocols including ADS (Aggregated Discovery Service), CDS (Cluster Discovery Service), EDS (Endpoint Discovery Service), LDS (Listener Discovery Service), RDS (Route Discovery Service), and VHDS (Virtual Host Discovery Service).

Architecture - Elchi 3-Process Distributed Architecture

3-Process Distributed Architecture

Enterprise-grade scalability with specialized microservices working in harmony

Registry

Port: 9090

Service discovery and routing hub

Controller registration & address sharing
Client location tracking
Version-based control-plane routing
External processing integration
In-memory data with auto-cleanup

Controller

Port: Configurable

REST API and management layer

Client management & command dispatch
xDS resource management (CDS, LDS, RDS, EDS)
User & authorization (JWT + RBAC)
MongoDB integration
AI-powered config analysis
K8s Discovery system

Control-Plane

Port: 18000

gRPC-based xDS control plane

Envoy ADS (Aggregated Discovery Service)
VHDS (Virtual Host Discovery Service)
Snapshot management & cache system
Bridge services (snapshot, resource, poke)
Auto-registration with registry
Health monitoring & keepalive

Registry

Registration & Discovery

Controller

Config Sync

Control-Plane

xDS Protocol (gRPC)

Envoy

High Availability

Multiple control-plane instances with automatic failover and health monitoring

Scalability

Load balancing across controllers and control-planes for enterprise workloads

Version Routing

Intelligent routing to appropriate control-plane versions based on client requirements

Layered Architecture

Modern technology stack with distributed processing and enterprise-grade components

Frontend Layer

React

Modern UI Framework

TypeScript

Type Safety

Cytoscape

Graph Visualization

Backend Layer - 3-Process Architecture

Controller

REST API (Port: Custom)

Client management, xDS resources, User auth

Control-Plane

gRPC xDS (Port: 18000)

ADS, VHDS, Snapshot cache

Registry

Discovery (Port: 9090)

Service discovery, Version routing

Data & Storage Layer

MongoDB

Config Storage

VictoriaMetrics

Time-Series DB

OpenRouter

AI Model Integration

Proxy Layer

Envoy Proxy

Multi-Version Support

WAF

OWASP CRS

Health Check

Auto-Recovery

Request Flow

Client

→

Registry

→

Route

Controller

→

xDS

Control-Plane

→

Config

Envoy

Registration: Clients register with Registry for service discovery

Routing: Registry routes clients to appropriate Controller version

xDS Protocol: Control-Plane serves Envoy configurations via gRPC

Configuration: Envoy receives and applies dynamic configurations

Native Integrations

Kubernetes

Docker

gRPC

Prometheus