Service Discovery

minecraft-gateway discovers game server Services automatically using the discovery section of a NetworkInfrastructure. Discovered services are written into status.backendRefs and become available as backends in your routes.

How discovery works

The NetworkInfrastructureReconciler watches Services, Gateways, and EndpointSlices. When it reconciles, it:

Determines which namespaces to search based on discovery.namespaceSelector.
Lists all Services in those namespaces that match discovery.labelSelector.
For each matching Service, selects a port using the priority rules below.
Writes the result into status.backendRefs.

Configuring discovery

spec:
  discovery:
    namespaceSelector:
      from: Same           # Same | All | Selector
    labelSelector:
      matchLabels:
        minefleet.dev/gameserver: "true"

Namespace scope

`from` value	Behavior
`Same`	Only the namespace where the `NetworkInfrastructure` lives.
`All`	All namespaces in the cluster.
`Selector`	Namespaces whose labels match `namespaceSelector.selector`.

Label selector

Any standard Kubernetes label selector. Services must have all required labels to be included.

labelSelector:
  matchLabels:
    minefleet.dev/gameserver: "true"
    minefleet.dev/environment: production

Port selection

For each discovered Service, the controller selects a port in this priority order:

A TCP port named minecraft
TCP port number 25565
The first TCP port found on the Service

Services with no TCP ports are excluded.

Labelling your Services

Add the label that matches your discovery.labelSelector to any Service you want the gateway to discover:

kubectl label service my-gameserver minefleet.dev/gameserver=true

Or set it in your Service manifest:

apiVersion: v1
kind: Service
metadata:
  name: survival-server
  labels:
    minefleet.dev/gameserver: "true"
spec:
  ports:
    - name: minecraft
      port: 25565
      protocol: TCP
  selector:
    app: survival-server

Checking discovered backends

After the controller reconciles, check the NetworkInfrastructure status to see what was discovered:

kubectl get networkinfrastructure my-infrastructure -o jsonpath='{.status.backendRefs}'

Using discovered services in routes

Discovered services can be referenced by name in backendRefs:

backendRefs:
  - name: survival-server
    port: 25565

The controller validates that the referenced service exists in the gateway’s namespace (or the route’s namespace if no namespace is specified).

Dynamic updates

The controller re-reconciles automatically when Services gain or lose the discovery label, when EndpointSlices change (for fallback route fallbackFor resolution), or when a NetworkInfrastructure is updated. There is no need to restart anything after adding a new game server.

Getting Started

Concepts

Guides

Reference

How discovery works

Configuring discovery

Namespace scope

Label selector

Port selection

Labelling your Services

Checking discovered backends

Using discovered services in routes

Dynamic updates

​How discovery works

​Configuring discovery

​Namespace scope

​Label selector

​Port selection

​Labelling your Services

​Checking discovered backends

​Using discovered services in routes

​Dynamic updates

How discovery works

Configuring discovery

Namespace scope

Label selector

Port selection

Labelling your Services

Checking discovered backends

Using discovered services in routes

Dynamic updates