> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.guardway.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Introduction

> Guardway is an LLM gateway you self-host, governed from a SaaS dashboard. Unified API, guardrails, and observability across every provider.

Guardway is an **LLM gateway you run inside your own network**, governed from a SaaS dashboard at [app.guardway.ai](https://app.guardway.ai).

The gateway is a single container that speaks an OpenAI-compatible API and fans requests out to 20+ providers (OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Groq, Bedrock, Azure, Ollama, vLLM, and more). Guardrails, routing, budgets, caching, and tracing run locally; prompts and completions never leave your network. Only aggregate telemetry and administrative audit events reach the cloud.

The dashboard is where you configure providers, attach them to gateways, sync models, test requests in the playground, and watch logs and traces.

## The golden path

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card icon="user-plus" title="1. Sign up" href="/getting-started/sign-up">
    Create your Guardway account and land on the dashboard.
  </Card>

  <Card icon="box" title="2. Deploy a gateway" href="/guardway-gateway/deploy">
    Run the gateway container in your network with a one-time registration token.
  </Card>

  <Card icon="plug-circle-check" title="3. Activate it" href="/guardway-gateway/activate">
    Connect the dashboard to the running gateway.
  </Card>

  <Card icon="layer-group" title="4. Connect a provider" href="/platform/configuration/providers">
    Add OpenAI, Anthropic, or any of 20+ presets. Attach to your gateway.
  </Card>

  <Card icon="arrows-rotate" title="5. Sync models" href="/platform/configuration/models">
    Discover the models available on each provider from that gateway.
  </Card>

  <Card icon="flask" title="6. Test & observe" href="/platform/playground">
    Send a request in the playground, then inspect logs and traces.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

## Who Guardway is for

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card icon="landmark" title="Security-first enterprises">
    Banks, healthcare, government, and anyone with SOC 2, HIPAA, or PCI DSS obligations.
  </Card>

  <Card icon="lock" title="Teams who cannot send prompts to a third party">
    The gateway stays in your VPC. Prompts and completions never leave your network.
  </Card>

  <Card icon="wallet" title="Platforms with multi-tenant AI spend">
    Per-team budgets, per-key quotas, and per-provider cost tracking.
  </Card>

  <Card icon="code" title="Developers tired of provider lock-in">
    One OpenAI-compatible endpoint, 20+ providers behind it.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

## Need help?

<Note>
  Email [support@guardway.ai](mailto:support@guardway.ai). For a guided walkthrough, start with the [Quickstart](/getting-started/quickstart).
</Note>