> ## 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.

# Overview

> What the Guardway gateway is, how it talks to the dashboard, and why prompts and completions never leave your network.

The **Guardway gateway** is a single container that runs inside your network and speaks an OpenAI-compatible API. Your applications send requests to the gateway; the gateway applies guardrails, picks a provider, forwards the request, and returns the response.

The **dashboard** at [app.guardway.ai](https://app.guardway.ai) configures and observes gateways but never proxies inference traffic. Prompts and completions stay on the gateway; only aggregate telemetry and administrative audit events are recorded centrally on the platform.

## How the pieces fit together

<Frame caption="Guardway at a glance">
  <img src="https://mintcdn.com/fcguardwayai/rJTQ_bXDRs9Cgazf/images/screenshots/gateway/overview-architecture.png?fit=max&auto=format&n=rJTQ_bXDRs9Cgazf&q=85&s=0632bbc2e95a0efdf98fee3a9c24ac59" alt="Architecture diagram" width="999" height="805" data-path="images/screenshots/gateway/overview-architecture.png" />
</Frame>

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card icon="box" title="Gateway (your infra)">
    A hardened container. Runs in your VPC, on-prem, or on a laptop. Speaks the OpenAI API. Fans out to 20+ providers. Keeps prompts and completions on your infra.
  </Card>

  <Card icon="cloud" title="Dashboard (SaaS)">
    Configures providers, routes, guardrails, budgets, and teams. Reads aggregate telemetry from gateways. Never sees raw prompts or completions.
  </Card>

  <Card icon="heart-pulse" title="Control plane">
    Registration tokens, heartbeats, config sync, health signals. HTTPS only. Outbound from the gateway.
  </Card>

  <Card icon="plug" title="Local connection">
    For playground, logs, and traces the dashboard talks to the gateway directly over your LAN or a URL you expose. Authenticated with a per-session JWT.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

## What stays local, always

<Note>
  **Prompts and completions never leave the gateway.** The gateway forwards requests directly to the provider you configured; only aggregate telemetry (token counts, latency, cost) and administrative audit events flow to the cloud dashboard. See [Privacy and Security](/resources/privacy-and-security).
</Note>

## Where to go next

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card icon="box" title="Deploy the gateway" href="/guardway-gateway/deploy">
    Run the container.
  </Card>

  <Card icon="clipboard-check" title="Check requirements" href="/guardway-gateway/requirements">
    CPU, memory, network.
  </Card>

  <Card icon="shield-halved" title="Functionalities" href="/guardway-gateway/functionalities">
    Auth, RBAC, guardrails, compliance.
  </Card>

  <Card icon="rectangle-terminal" title="Environment variables" href="/guardway-gateway/environment">
    Full config reference.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>