AMBASSADOR-PATTERN

Sidecar proxy for outbound to externals.

Definition

The ambassador encapsulates external communication complexity (3rd-party APIs, legacy systems, DB) with retries, timeouts, caching, telemetry. Examples: Twemproxy in front of Memcached, custom proxy in front of Stripe API. Pattern formalised in Microsoft Cloud Design Patterns.

Origin

Microsoft Cloud Design Patterns published on Azure Architecture Center.

Example in context

A Node.js app uses a Go ambassador to handle retries/timeouts to Stripe API with exponential backoff.

Related terms

• Sidecar — parent pattern.