Meter API requests by subject headerv3.14+
Use this configuration when your application passes a customer or tenant identifier in a request header and you want to bill against that identifier instead of a Consumer. This is common for SaaS platforms that manage their own customer identity outside of Kong Gateway.
If the configured header is absent on a request, the event is dropped.
To prevent unidentified traffic from generating events, use the plugin’s instance_name execution condition to filter those requests out.
To aggregate usage and generate invoices, you need either Konnect Metering & Billing or a self-hosted OpenMeter instance.
Prerequisites
-
Your API clients must pass the subject header on every request you want to meter.
-
A Konnect system account token (
spat_) or OpenMeter API key to use as theauth_token.
Environment variables
-
AUTH_TOKEN: A Konnect system account token (spat_) or OpenMeter API key. -
SUBJECT_HEADER: The name of the request header that contains the tenant or customer identifier, for examplex-tenant-idorx-customer-id.
Add this section to your kong.yaml configuration file:
_format_version: "3.0"
plugins:
- name: metering-and-billing
config:
ingest_endpoint: https://us.api.konghq.com/v3/openmeter/events
api_token: ${{ env "DECK_AUTH_TOKEN" }}
meter_api_requests: true
meter_ai_token_usage: false
subject:
look_up_value_in: header
field: ${{ env "DECK_SUBJECT_HEADER" }}
Make the following request:
curl -i -X POST http://localhost:8001/plugins/ \
--header "Accept: application/json" \
--header "Content-Type: application/json" \
--data '
{
"name": "metering-and-billing",
"config": {
"ingest_endpoint": "https://us.api.konghq.com/v3/openmeter/events",
"api_token": "'$AUTH_TOKEN'",
"meter_api_requests": true,
"meter_ai_token_usage": false,
"subject": {
"look_up_value_in": "header",
"field": "'$SUBJECT_HEADER'"
}
},
"tags": []
}
'
Make the following request:
curl -X POST https://{region}.api.konghq.com/v2/control-planes/{controlPlaneId}/core-entities/plugins/ \
--header "accept: application/json" \
--header "Content-Type: application/json" \
--header "Authorization: Bearer $KONNECT_TOKEN" \
--data '
{
"name": "metering-and-billing",
"config": {
"ingest_endpoint": "https://us.api.konghq.com/v3/openmeter/events",
"api_token": "'$AUTH_TOKEN'",
"meter_api_requests": true,
"meter_ai_token_usage": false,
"subject": {
"look_up_value_in": "header",
"field": "'$SUBJECT_HEADER'"
}
},
"tags": []
}
'
Make sure to replace the following placeholders with your own values:
-
region: Geographic region where your Kong Konnect is hosted and operates. -
KONNECT_TOKEN: Your Personal Access Token (PAT) associated with your Konnect account. -
controlPlaneId: Theidof the control plane.
See the Konnect API reference to learn about region-specific URLs and personal access tokens.
echo "
apiVersion: configuration.konghq.com/v1
kind: KongClusterPlugin
metadata:
name: metering-and-billing
namespace: kong
annotations:
kubernetes.io/ingress.class: kong
konghq.com/tags: ''
labels:
global: 'true'
config:
ingest_endpoint: https://us.api.konghq.com/v3/openmeter/events
api_token: '$AUTH_TOKEN'
meter_api_requests: true
meter_ai_token_usage: false
subject:
look_up_value_in: header
field: '$SUBJECT_HEADER'
plugin: metering-and-billing
" | kubectl apply -f -
Prerequisite: Configure your Personal Access Token
terraform {
required_providers {
konnect = {
source = "kong/konnect"
}
}
}
provider "konnect" {
personal_access_token = "$KONNECT_TOKEN"
server_url = "https://us.api.konghq.com/"
}
Add the following to your Terraform configuration to create a Konnect Gateway Plugin:
resource "konnect_gateway_plugin_metering_and_billing" "my_metering_and_billing" {
enabled = true
config = {
ingest_endpoint = "https://us.api.konghq.com/v3/openmeter/events"
api_token = var.auth_token
meter_api_requests = true
meter_ai_token_usage = false
subject = {
look_up_value_in = "header"
field = var.subject_header
}
}
tags = []
control_plane_id = konnect_gateway_control_plane.my_konnect_cp.id
}
This example requires the following variables to be added to your manifest. You can specify values at runtime by setting TF_VAR_name=value.
variable "subject_header" {
type = string
}
Add this section to your kong.yaml configuration file:
_format_version: "3.0"
plugins:
- name: metering-and-billing
service: serviceName|Id
config:
ingest_endpoint: https://us.api.konghq.com/v3/openmeter/events
api_token: ${{ env "DECK_AUTH_TOKEN" }}
meter_api_requests: true
meter_ai_token_usage: false
subject:
look_up_value_in: header
field: ${{ env "DECK_SUBJECT_HEADER" }}
Make sure to replace the following placeholders with your own values:
-
serviceName|Id: Theidornameof the service the plugin configuration will target.
Make the following request:
curl -i -X POST http://localhost:8001/services/{serviceName|Id}/plugins/ \
--header "Accept: application/json" \
--header "Content-Type: application/json" \
--data '
{
"name": "metering-and-billing",
"config": {
"ingest_endpoint": "https://us.api.konghq.com/v3/openmeter/events",
"api_token": "'$AUTH_TOKEN'",
"meter_api_requests": true,
"meter_ai_token_usage": false,
"subject": {
"look_up_value_in": "header",
"field": "'$SUBJECT_HEADER'"
}
},
"tags": []
}
'
Make sure to replace the following placeholders with your own values:
-
serviceName|Id: Theidornameof the service the plugin configuration will target.
Make the following request:
curl -X POST https://{region}.api.konghq.com/v2/control-planes/{controlPlaneId}/core-entities/services/{serviceId}/plugins/ \
--header "accept: application/json" \
--header "Content-Type: application/json" \
--header "Authorization: Bearer $KONNECT_TOKEN" \
--data '
{
"name": "metering-and-billing",
"config": {
"ingest_endpoint": "https://us.api.konghq.com/v3/openmeter/events",
"api_token": "'$AUTH_TOKEN'",
"meter_api_requests": true,
"meter_ai_token_usage": false,
"subject": {
"look_up_value_in": "header",
"field": "'$SUBJECT_HEADER'"
}
},
"tags": []
}
'
Make sure to replace the following placeholders with your own values:
-
region: Geographic region where your Kong Konnect is hosted and operates. -
KONNECT_TOKEN: Your Personal Access Token (PAT) associated with your Konnect account. -
controlPlaneId: Theidof the control plane. -
serviceId: Theidof the service the plugin configuration will target.
See the Konnect API reference to learn about region-specific URLs and personal access tokens.
echo "
apiVersion: configuration.konghq.com/v1
kind: KongPlugin
metadata:
name: metering-and-billing
namespace: kong
annotations:
kubernetes.io/ingress.class: kong
konghq.com/tags: ''
config:
ingest_endpoint: https://us.api.konghq.com/v3/openmeter/events
api_token: '$AUTH_TOKEN'
meter_api_requests: true
meter_ai_token_usage: false
subject:
look_up_value_in: header
field: '$SUBJECT_HEADER'
plugin: metering-and-billing
" | kubectl apply -f -
Next, apply the KongPlugin resource by annotating the service resource:
kubectl annotate -n kong service SERVICE_NAME konghq.com/plugins=metering-and-billing
Prerequisite: Configure your Personal Access Token
terraform {
required_providers {
konnect = {
source = "kong/konnect"
}
}
}
provider "konnect" {
personal_access_token = "$KONNECT_TOKEN"
server_url = "https://us.api.konghq.com/"
}
Add the following to your Terraform configuration to create a Konnect Gateway Plugin:
resource "konnect_gateway_plugin_metering_and_billing" "my_metering_and_billing" {
enabled = true
config = {
ingest_endpoint = "https://us.api.konghq.com/v3/openmeter/events"
api_token = var.auth_token
meter_api_requests = true
meter_ai_token_usage = false
subject = {
look_up_value_in = "header"
field = var.subject_header
}
}
tags = []
control_plane_id = konnect_gateway_control_plane.my_konnect_cp.id
service = {
id = konnect_gateway_service.my_service.id
}
}
This example requires the following variables to be added to your manifest. You can specify values at runtime by setting TF_VAR_name=value.
variable "subject_header" {
type = string
}
Add this section to your kong.yaml configuration file:
_format_version: "3.0"
plugins:
- name: metering-and-billing
route: routeName|Id
config:
ingest_endpoint: https://us.api.konghq.com/v3/openmeter/events
api_token: ${{ env "DECK_AUTH_TOKEN" }}
meter_api_requests: true
meter_ai_token_usage: false
subject:
look_up_value_in: header
field: ${{ env "DECK_SUBJECT_HEADER" }}
Make sure to replace the following placeholders with your own values:
-
routeName|Id: Theidornameof the route the plugin configuration will target.
Make the following request:
curl -i -X POST http://localhost:8001/routes/{routeName|Id}/plugins/ \
--header "Accept: application/json" \
--header "Content-Type: application/json" \
--data '
{
"name": "metering-and-billing",
"config": {
"ingest_endpoint": "https://us.api.konghq.com/v3/openmeter/events",
"api_token": "'$AUTH_TOKEN'",
"meter_api_requests": true,
"meter_ai_token_usage": false,
"subject": {
"look_up_value_in": "header",
"field": "'$SUBJECT_HEADER'"
}
},
"tags": []
}
'
Make sure to replace the following placeholders with your own values:
-
routeName|Id: Theidornameof the route the plugin configuration will target.
Make the following request:
curl -X POST https://{region}.api.konghq.com/v2/control-planes/{controlPlaneId}/core-entities/routes/{routeId}/plugins/ \
--header "accept: application/json" \
--header "Content-Type: application/json" \
--header "Authorization: Bearer $KONNECT_TOKEN" \
--data '
{
"name": "metering-and-billing",
"config": {
"ingest_endpoint": "https://us.api.konghq.com/v3/openmeter/events",
"api_token": "'$AUTH_TOKEN'",
"meter_api_requests": true,
"meter_ai_token_usage": false,
"subject": {
"look_up_value_in": "header",
"field": "'$SUBJECT_HEADER'"
}
},
"tags": []
}
'
Make sure to replace the following placeholders with your own values:
-
region: Geographic region where your Kong Konnect is hosted and operates. -
KONNECT_TOKEN: Your Personal Access Token (PAT) associated with your Konnect account. -
controlPlaneId: Theidof the control plane. -
routeId: Theidof the route the plugin configuration will target.
See the Konnect API reference to learn about region-specific URLs and personal access tokens.
echo "
apiVersion: configuration.konghq.com/v1
kind: KongPlugin
metadata:
name: metering-and-billing
namespace: kong
annotations:
kubernetes.io/ingress.class: kong
konghq.com/tags: ''
config:
ingest_endpoint: https://us.api.konghq.com/v3/openmeter/events
api_token: '$AUTH_TOKEN'
meter_api_requests: true
meter_ai_token_usage: false
subject:
look_up_value_in: header
field: '$SUBJECT_HEADER'
plugin: metering-and-billing
" | kubectl apply -f -
Next, apply the KongPlugin resource by annotating the httproute or ingress resource:
kubectl annotate -n kong httproute konghq.com/plugins=metering-and-billing
kubectl annotate -n kong ingress konghq.com/plugins=metering-and-billing
Prerequisite: Configure your Personal Access Token
terraform {
required_providers {
konnect = {
source = "kong/konnect"
}
}
}
provider "konnect" {
personal_access_token = "$KONNECT_TOKEN"
server_url = "https://us.api.konghq.com/"
}
Add the following to your Terraform configuration to create a Konnect Gateway Plugin:
resource "konnect_gateway_plugin_metering_and_billing" "my_metering_and_billing" {
enabled = true
config = {
ingest_endpoint = "https://us.api.konghq.com/v3/openmeter/events"
api_token = var.auth_token
meter_api_requests = true
meter_ai_token_usage = false
subject = {
look_up_value_in = "header"
field = var.subject_header
}
}
tags = []
control_plane_id = konnect_gateway_control_plane.my_konnect_cp.id
route = {
id = konnect_gateway_route.my_route.id
}
}
This example requires the following variables to be added to your manifest. You can specify values at runtime by setting TF_VAR_name=value.
variable "subject_header" {
type = string
}
Add this section to your kong.yaml configuration file:
_format_version: "3.0"
plugins:
- name: metering-and-billing
consumer: consumerName|Id
config:
ingest_endpoint: https://us.api.konghq.com/v3/openmeter/events
api_token: ${{ env "DECK_AUTH_TOKEN" }}
meter_api_requests: true
meter_ai_token_usage: false
subject:
look_up_value_in: header
field: ${{ env "DECK_SUBJECT_HEADER" }}
Make sure to replace the following placeholders with your own values:
-
consumerName|Id: Theidornameof the consumer the plugin configuration will target.
Make the following request:
curl -i -X POST http://localhost:8001/consumers/{consumerName|Id}/plugins/ \
--header "Accept: application/json" \
--header "Content-Type: application/json" \
--data '
{
"name": "metering-and-billing",
"config": {
"ingest_endpoint": "https://us.api.konghq.com/v3/openmeter/events",
"api_token": "'$AUTH_TOKEN'",
"meter_api_requests": true,
"meter_ai_token_usage": false,
"subject": {
"look_up_value_in": "header",
"field": "'$SUBJECT_HEADER'"
}
},
"tags": []
}
'
Make sure to replace the following placeholders with your own values:
-
consumerName|Id: Theidornameof the consumer the plugin configuration will target.
Make the following request:
curl -X POST https://{region}.api.konghq.com/v2/control-planes/{controlPlaneId}/core-entities/consumers/{consumerId}/plugins/ \
--header "accept: application/json" \
--header "Content-Type: application/json" \
--header "Authorization: Bearer $KONNECT_TOKEN" \
--data '
{
"name": "metering-and-billing",
"config": {
"ingest_endpoint": "https://us.api.konghq.com/v3/openmeter/events",
"api_token": "'$AUTH_TOKEN'",
"meter_api_requests": true,
"meter_ai_token_usage": false,
"subject": {
"look_up_value_in": "header",
"field": "'$SUBJECT_HEADER'"
}
},
"tags": []
}
'
Make sure to replace the following placeholders with your own values:
-
region: Geographic region where your Kong Konnect is hosted and operates. -
KONNECT_TOKEN: Your Personal Access Token (PAT) associated with your Konnect account. -
controlPlaneId: Theidof the control plane. -
consumerId: Theidof the consumer the plugin configuration will target.
See the Konnect API reference to learn about region-specific URLs and personal access tokens.
echo "
apiVersion: configuration.konghq.com/v1
kind: KongPlugin
metadata:
name: metering-and-billing
namespace: kong
annotations:
kubernetes.io/ingress.class: kong
konghq.com/tags: ''
config:
ingest_endpoint: https://us.api.konghq.com/v3/openmeter/events
api_token: '$AUTH_TOKEN'
meter_api_requests: true
meter_ai_token_usage: false
subject:
look_up_value_in: header
field: '$SUBJECT_HEADER'
plugin: metering-and-billing
" | kubectl apply -f -
Next, apply the KongPlugin resource by annotating the KongConsumer resource:
kubectl annotate -n kong kongconsumer CONSUMER_NAME konghq.com/plugins=metering-and-billing
Prerequisite: Configure your Personal Access Token
terraform {
required_providers {
konnect = {
source = "kong/konnect"
}
}
}
provider "konnect" {
personal_access_token = "$KONNECT_TOKEN"
server_url = "https://us.api.konghq.com/"
}
Add the following to your Terraform configuration to create a Konnect Gateway Plugin:
resource "konnect_gateway_plugin_metering_and_billing" "my_metering_and_billing" {
enabled = true
config = {
ingest_endpoint = "https://us.api.konghq.com/v3/openmeter/events"
api_token = var.auth_token
meter_api_requests = true
meter_ai_token_usage = false
subject = {
look_up_value_in = "header"
field = var.subject_header
}
}
tags = []
control_plane_id = konnect_gateway_control_plane.my_konnect_cp.id
consumer = {
id = konnect_gateway_consumer.my_consumer.id
}
}
This example requires the following variables to be added to your manifest. You can specify values at runtime by setting TF_VAR_name=value.
variable "subject_header" {
type = string
}