Infrastructure and API
The infrastructure and API is the skeleton and nervous system of the Gamble Hub. At this level, the speed, reliability and manageability of the entire ecosystem is born. Here technology ceases to be a "background" and becomes an active part of business logic: every request, response and signal is built into the rhythm of the network.
Gamble Hub was originally created as an API platform, not as an "interface above the base." This means that all system logic is available through stable, documented, versioned access points, and the interfaces are only a reflection of the same protocols.
Key principles of the Gamble Hub architecture:1. API-first. All functions - from content management to financial transactions - are implemented through the API. This makes integrations predictable and the same for all network participants.
2. Microservice structure. Each component is independent: analytics, compliance, billing, reporting and distribution are scaled and updated separately.
3. Edge infrastructure. The nodes of the system are distributed by region, which minimizes delays and increases stability. Data and content are delivered from the nearest point of presence.
4. Service isolation. A single node error does not affect the entire system: microservices are autonomous, and data routes are rebuilt dynamically.
5. Contract compatibility. API versioning and strict data schemas ensure that any integration remains operational after updates.
The Gamble Hub infrastructure provides scale without fragmentation.
Horizontal expansion allows network members to grow without "moving" the platform. A new market, provider or operator is added as a new node to the existing architecture - without failures or data duplication.
- Manages request flows, priorities, and limits
- provides authentication and tokenization of access;
- Analyze delays, errors, and deviations
- collects telemetry for subsequent analytics.
Thanks to this, the API becomes not just a communication channel, but the main tool for control and observability. Any operation - be it changing RTP, updating the directory, transferring funds or creating a report - is recorded at the protocol level and is available for analysis.
The Gamble Hub infrastructure lives in three dimensions:- Technical - speed, fault tolerance, safety;
- Economic - predictable cost of operations and scalability of resources;
- Operational - integration, updates and real-time observability.
All this makes the API not a "developer tool," but the core of the interaction of the entire network.
It combines operators, studios, payment systems, analytical modules and external services into a single protocol.
Infrastructure and APIs are not just technology, but the language spoken by the entire Gamble Hub ecosystem.
It makes connections direct, actions instantaneous and growth manageable.
Gamble Hub is not a surface showcase, but a living technological organism, where each request is part of a single pulse of iGaming.
Key Topics
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Gateway API Architecture and Security
iGaming/fintech API Gateway Reference Design Guide: Roles and Patterns (edge, BFF, north-south/east-west), Security (mTLS, OAuth2/OIDC, JWT, HMAC, WAF, bot protection, DDoS), traffic management (rate/quotas, circuit-breaker, retry, idempotency), transformation (OpenAPI/JSON Schema, gRPC/REST/GraphQL), compliance (PCI/GDPR, audit), observability (log/metrics/trails), multi-region topology, policy-as-code, and implementation checklists.
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WebSocket streams and events
A practical guide to the design and operation of WebSocket streams for iGaming/fintech platforms: domain events (balance, bets, tournaments, responsible game limits), protocol and message format, authentication and authorization, subscription model and summarization with offsets, delivery guarantees and idempotence, backpressure and quotas, sharding and multi-region, observability and SLL O, incident playbooks and UATs.
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GRPC: binary protocols and performance
gRPC Practical Guide for High-Load iGaming/fintech Platforms: When to Choose gRPC over REST/GraphQL, Pattern and Evolution of Contracts (Protobuf), Streams and Bidirectional Communication, Deadlines/Retrays/Idempotency, Balancing and Consistent Hashes, Encryption (m TLS), observability (metrics/trails), gRPC-Web and gateways, Envoy/Ingress, message compression and sizes, anti-patterns and implementation checklists.
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API authentication: OAuth2, JWT, HMAC
A practical guide to authentication in iGaming/fintech: when to choose OAuth2/OIDC with JWT, where you need HMAC (webhooks/partner integrations), how to build access tickets (scopes/roles/tenants), key rotation (JWKS), mTLS/DPoP for "binding" tokens to the client, replay and spoofing protection, lifetimes, refresh policies, audits, incident playbooks, and implementation checklists.
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Rate Limits and Load Control
iGaming/fintech API Speed Limits and Load Management How-To Guide: Models (token/leaky bucket, sliding window, fixed window, concurrent-limits), Quotas (min/hr/day), fair-share per-tenant/key/route/country/BIN, SLO adaptation and backprescher, GraphQL/WS/webhook protection, Gateway/mesh API integration, monitoring and alerts, incident playbooks, test cases and anti-patterns
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Webhooks and event idempotency
A practical guide to designing webhooks for iGaming/fintech: delivery agreements (at-least-once), signatures (HMAC/mTLS), replay protection, event envelope scheme, retrays and backoff, event _ id/Idempotency-Key dedup, error handling, DLQ/resubmission, monitoring (SLO), and UAT checklists. Pseudocode and minimum specifications for "sender" and "receiver" are included.
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API documentation: OpenAPI, Swagger, Postman
A practical guide to API documentation in iGaming/fintech: how to write and version OpenAPI, build Swagger UI/Redoc, support Postman collections, autogenerate SDKs, wet and test contracts, design examples and scripts, embed linters/CIs and roll out a role-based dev portal and governance. Checklists, templates and mini-snippets.
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Sandboxes and test environments
Practical guide to designing sandbox- and test-environments for iGaming/fintech: environment levels (dev/test/stage/sandbox), data strategy (synthetics/depersonalization), PSP/KYC/AML/game provider simulators, webhooks and idempotency, feature flags and time-travel, CI/CD and promotion, SLO/observability, safe access for partners, UAT checklists and antipatterns.
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Feature Flags and Release Management
Complete Feature Flags guide: flag types, architecture, targeting and segments, progressive rollout (canary/rings), kill-switch, security and compliance, reconciliations and audits, CI/CD/GitOps integration, metrics (DORA/SLO), anti-patterns and checklists. Examples for web/backend and iGaming/fintech workloads.
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Blue-Green and Canary deploy
Complete guide to Blue-Green and Canary Deploy: principles, when and what to choose, traffic routing (LB, mesh, gateway), database migration (expand-migrate-contract), SLO gates and auto-rollback, integration with CI/CD and GitOps, security, cost savings, anti - patterns and checklists. Examples for Kubernetes/NGINX/Istio/Argo Rollouts and Cloud Balancers.
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Infrastructure monitoring
Practical guide for infrastructure monitoring: SRE principles, SLI/SLO, blackbox/whitebox approaches, host, network, Kubernetes, database and queues, logs and tracing (OpenTelemetry), alert and escalation, synthetics and eBPF profiling. Prometheus/Alertmanager rule templates, Grafana dashboards, checklists and anti-patterns.
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Logging and tracing events
A practical guide to logging and distributed tracing: JSON structure of logs, levels and cardinality, W3C Trace Context, correlation/baggage, link metrik↔treysov (Exemplars), collection and routing (Fluent Bit/Vector/OTel Collector), PII masking, retention and indexing, log alerts, audits, and business events. Checklists, anti-patterns, ready-made snippets for Node/Java/Python/NGINX/Kubernetes.
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Manage configurations and secrets
Complete guide to configs and secrets: hierarchy and schemes, dynamic configs and feature flags, GitOps and encryption (KMS/Vault/SOPS), key rotation and zero-trust, secrets in Kubernetes (CSI/Sidecar/Sealed), RBAC/ABAB AC, auditing and journaling, CI/CD integration, checklists, anti-patterns, and maturity metrics.
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Load balancing and failover
Practical guide to load balancing and fault tolerance: L4/L7 balancing (NGINX/HAProxy/Envoy), cloud LB/ALB/NLB, sessions and sticky/consistent hashing, health-checks and outlier detection, retry/timeout/circuit-breaking, cross-zone and cross-regional traffic (GSLB, DNS, Anycast/BGP), failover models (active-active/active-passive), RTO/RPO, failure tests and runbook 'and. Examples of configs and checklists for Kubernetes and perimeter.
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Database Sharding and Replication
Practical guide to horizontal database scaling: types of replication (synchronous/asynchronous/logical), read/write-split, lag control and read-after-write, sharding strategies (range/hash/consistent/directory), ID keys and generation, rebalancing and online overcharging, multi-region (leader/follower, quorum/Raft), vital tools (PgBouncer/Patroni, Orchestrator, Vitess/Citus), backups and PITRs, maturity metrics, and anti-patterns.
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Replication and eventual consistency
A practical guide to replication and eventual consistency: types of consistency (read-your-writes, monotonic, causal), anti-entropy and replication mechanisms (synchronous/asynchronous, journal/logical, CDC), conflict detection and resolution (versioning, vector clock, CRDT/Last-Write-Wins), domain invariants, idempotence and deduplication, "no older than X" reading schemes, multi-region and network partitions, lag and SLO monitoring, implementation checklists, and anti-patterns.
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Backups and disaster recovery
Backup and DR How-to Guide: Data Classification, RPO/RTO Objectives, 3-2-1-1-0 Rule, full/incremental/differential/snapshot/PITR Backup Types, Encryption and Key Management, Immutable Copies (WORM/Object Lock), offsite/air-gap, DR plans (active-active/active-passive/warm/cold), feilover orchestration, recovery tests, maturity metrics, checklists, and anti-patterns. Examples for database, K8s, VM and file systems.
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Load testing and stress
Complete load testing guide: types (load/stress/spike/soak), open vs closed traffic model, user profiles and arrival rate, metrics (SLI/SLO, p95/p99, throughput, saturation), scenario design (data, think-time, correlation), bench infrastructure (isolation, load generators, observability), bottleneck search, and anti-patterns. Examples (k6/JMeter/Gatling/Locust), checklists, performance gates in CI/CD and performance budget.
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Chaos Engineering: System Resilience
A complete guide to Chaos Engineering: formulation of steady-state and hypotheses, design of experiments (fault injection on networks/nodes/data/dependencies), secure railings (blast radius, guardrails, stop-criteria), integration with SLO/error-budget, game-days and automation in CI/CD. Instruments (Chaos Mesh, Litmus, Gremlin, AWS FIS, Toxiproxy, Envoy fault), manifest examples for Kubernetes, checklists, maturity metrics, and anti-patterns.
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Autoscaling and SLA Balance
A practical guide to SLA/SLO autoscaling: metrics and triggers (CPU/RAM, p95 latency, RPS, queue depth), open traffic model and Little's law, reactive vs predictive scale, HPA/VPA/KEDA/ASG/Serverless, pre-warm and burst buffers, level coordination (application/queues/DB), error budgets and "cost of nines," guards, anti-patterns, checklists and maturity metrics.
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Service Discovery и DNS
Service discovery and DNS how-to guide: client vs server discovery, A/AAAA/CNAME/SRV/TXT/HTTP (S) records, TTL and cache cascades, split-horizon and private zones, health-checks and weighted/geo/anycast policies, Core DNS/NodeLocal DNS in Kubernetes, Headless services and EndpointSlice, Consul/Eureka/etcd, mesh integration (xDS/SDS), DNSSEC/DoT/DoH, observability (NXDOMAIN/SERVFAIL/capture-rate), checklists, anti-patterns, and example configs.
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Event Architecture (EDA)
Event-Driven Architecture Practice Guide: Event Types (Domain/Integration/Technical), Delivery and Consistency Models, Topic/Queue Design, Contracts and Schema Versioning (Avro/Proto, CloudEvents), Outbox/Inbox, and CDC, Sagas and Orchestration, Conflict Handling and Idempotency, Observability, and SLO (lag/age/end-to-end latency), retention and replay, safety and GDPR, testing and maturity. Sample templates for Kafka/RabbitMQ and implementation checklists.
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Saga pattern and distributed transactions
A complete guide to saga pattern: orchestration vs choreography, consistency models (at-least-once, TCC), step and compensation design, deadlines/retrays/idempotency, outbox/inbox and correct event publishing, saga state storage, error handling and timeouts, observability and SLO (end-to-end latency, success rate), broker integration (Kafka/RabbitMQ) and HTTP, UML/pseudocode examples, maturity checklists, and anti-patterns.
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Error Handling and Status Codes
API Bug Design How-To: Unified Bug Format (Problem Details/JSON), Stable Status Codes and Retray Semantics, Idempotency, Business Logic Bug Mapping, Pagination/Partial Failure in Batches, Webhooks, gRPC/GraphQL Matches, Headers ('Retry-After', 'Idempotency-Key', 'Warning'), message security, observability, and prod-readiness checklist. With sample responses and anti-patterns.
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Timeout и circuit control
A practical guide to managing delays and failures in distributed systems: timeout budgets and deadlines, types of timeouts (connect/TLS/handshake/read/write/idle), propagation cancellation, circuit breaker architecture (failure-rate/slow-call/consequential errors, half-open), adaptive concurrency/load shedding, interaction with retraces, rate limits and idempotency. With examples of configs (Envoy/NGINX/gRPC/HTTP clients), metrics, testing and a prod-readiness checklist.
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Security and CSP Policies
Complete Web Client and Perimeter Security Policy Guide: Content Security Policy (CSP) 3/Next, Trusted Types, Subresource Integrity, CORP/COOP/COEP, Fetch Metadata, CORS, HSTS, SameSite-cookies, X- protection SS/clickjacking, secure integration of third-party scripts/iframe (PSP/3DS), reporting (Report-Only/Report-To), phased rollout, examples of configs (NGINX/Envoy), production readiness checklist and anti-patters.
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Access control and RBAC in API
System guide for API access control design and implementation: RBAC/ABAC/ReBAC, object-level authorization (BOLA-first), multi-lease and resource hierarchies, roles and permissions, tokens and stamps (OAuth2/OIDC/JWT), centralized PDP (OPA/Cedar approach), solution cache, policies on the perimeter and within services, audit and testing. With sample policies, performance patterns, and a prod-ready checklist.
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Plugins and middleware in the Gateway API
Engineering guide for the design and operation of middleware chains/plugins in API gateways: plugin classes (authentication, authorization, limits, transformations, cache, WAF/bot protection, observability), application order and impact on latency, multi-lease and policy versioning, configs (Envoy/NGINX/Open Resty, Kong, APISIX, Traefik), testing and canary rollout, telemetry and anti-patterns. With examples of configs, architectural schemes and a check list of prod-readiness.
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Reverse proxy and routing
A practical guide to designing L4/L7 reverse proxies and routing strategies: TLS termination and SNI, HTTP/1. 1-2-3, gRPC/WebSocket, host/path/header/cookie-routing, canary/blue-green/weighted/AB-traffic, geo- and regional routing, sticky sessions and consistent hashing, health-checks and outlier-ejection, shadow/mirroring, cache and compression on perimeter, safety (WAF/CORS/headers), observability, and anti-patterns. With examples of configs (NGINX/Envoy/Traefik/K8s Ingress) and a check list of prod-readiness.
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WAF and injection protection
A practical guide to designing, tuning and operating WAF to protect API from injection: attack models (SQLi/NoSQLi/Command/XXE/SSRF/Deserialization/Template/LDAP/GraphQL/Proto-pollution), parsing and normalization, positive and negative models, OWASP CRS, virtual patching, type/size/circuit control, anti-obfuscation, rate-limits/bot filters, observability, and A/B handlebars. With examples of configs (ModSecurity/NGINX, Envoy/WASM, APISIX/Kong) and a check list of prod-readiness.
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CDN and latency reduction optimization
A practical guide to reducing network latency and speeding up delivery via CDN: architecture (Anycast, tiered/origin shield), cache keys and Vary, stale-while-revalidate/stale-if-error, coalescing/early hints (103), HTTP/2-3 (QUIC), TLS/TCP tuning, edge-compute (WAF/title census/personalization), image/video optimization, API caching and idempotency, preconnect/prefetch, RUM metrics, and SLO. With config examples (NGINX, Fastly VCL, Cloudflare) and a prod-ready checklist.
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Unit vs Integration Tests
What, where and how to test: Unit test boundaries against Integration tests, pyramid and coverage strategy, speeds and costs, fictions and data, mock/stab/fake/contract tests, hermetic environments (Docker/Testcontainers), fight against flaky, quality metrics (coverage, mutation), parallel runs and embedding in CI/CD. With examples for API/microservices, event-driven and payment scenarios.
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Mocking and stubs for integrations
A practical guide to isolating external dependencies in API systems: when and what to get wet, differences between mock/stub/fake/spy/sandbox, service virtualization and record/replay, contract-aware stubs (Pact, OpenAPI/Protobuf), Testcontainers and local racks, chaos scenarios (networks/timeouts/retrays), test data management, and combating flaky. Examples for HTTP/gRPC/Kafka (WireMock, MockServer, Hoverfly, Nock, Go 'httptest', k6/xk6-disruptor) and a prod-ready checklist for CI/CD.
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API lining and static analysis
A practical guide to linking and static analysis of API contracts and implementation: OpenAPI/Protobuf/GraphQL style rules, semantic diff and breaking change detecta, unification of errors and status codes, security (OAuth2/JWT/mTLS/Scopes), pagination/filters/limits, notation and versioning, CI-pipelines (pre-commit → PR-gate → release), integration with code linters (ESLint/golangci-lint/Detekt) and Semgrep. With examples of Spectral/Redocly rules, buf/protolint, error schemes, and prod-readiness checklist.
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VPN tunnels and IPsec
A practical guide to designing, deploying and operating IPsec/IKEv2-based VPNs: encryption policies, PFS and key rotation, NAT-T and MSS-clamp, route- vs policy-based, BGP over tunnels (VTI/GRE), fault tolerance (double link pairs, DPD, rekey), split-tunnel and segmentation, monitoring/trawling, prod-readiness checklists and cloud specifics (AWS/GCP/Azure) and Kubernetes. With examples of configs (strongSwan/VyOS/Cisco/Juniper) and anti-patterns.
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Cloud cost optimization
Step-by-step FinOps guide: metrics and unit economics (Cost/Req, Cost/Tenant, COGS), architectural levers (correct dimensions, auto-scaling, Spot/Preemptible, RI/CUD/Savings Plans), storage (classes, lifecycles), network and egress (CDN/edge, private channels), Kubernetes/Serverless-economy (requests/limits, VPA/Karpenter, tail-tracing), logging/observability (sampling, retentions), budgeting and alerts, policies like code and tagging. Separately - the specifics of iGaming/finance: PSP commissions, KYC/AML vendors, "money paths" and GGR.
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Incidents and SRE playbooks
Complete practical incident management guide: SEV levels and SLO criteria, on-call and roles (IC, Ops Lead, Comms), "war-room" protocol, communication channels, investigation and stabilization, playbooks/ranbooks and their automation, quality checklists, post-mortems without charges, Legal Hold and regulatory notifications. Includes ready-made templates and typical playbooks (API 5xx, DB lag, Kafka-lag, K8s NodeNotReady, expired certificates, DDoS, PSP-outage, data leak).
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SLA, SLO and Reliability KPI
A step-by-step guide to formalizing reliability: SLA/SLO/SLI/KPI differences, selection of metrics (Golden Signals), calculation of availability and erroneous budget, burn-rate and alert, end-to-end examples for APIs, payments, databases and queues, as well as templates for contractual SLAs and internal reporting. Included are formulas, PromQL requests, checklists, and implementation plan.
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Monetizing API and rate plans
API monetization how-to guide: pricing models (freemium, tiered, pay-as-you-go), rate plans design, quotas and limits (RPS/credits), metered billing, client/key/tenant limits, anti-abuse and security, revenue reporting and analytics, SLAs and legal aspects Includes config templates (Kong/Tyk/AWS API GW), metering schemes, Stripe/Braintree integration and launch checklists.
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Uptime Reports and SLA Audits
A complete guide to building an availability reporting process: SLA/SLO/SLI definitions and boundaries, sources of truth (synthetics, logs, business events), uptime calculation techniques, exception rules and window maintenance, multi-region quorum, audit trail and Legal Hold, status page reconciliation, SLA credits and debatable cases. Included are formulas, PromQL/SQL examples, report templates, quality checklists, and implementation plan.
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SRE culture and engineering principles
A practical guide to building an SRE culture: values and principles (SLO/SLI, error budget, blameless post-mortems, reducing manual labor), organizational rituals (PRR, release review, chaos games), engineering practices (observability-first, automation, progressive calculations, reliability tests), on-call health and maturity metrics. Included are checklists, templates, anti-patterns, and a phased implementation plan.
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Webhooks: replays and acknowledgements
A practical guide to designing and operating webhooks: acknowledgement semantics (2xx), repetition policy (exponential backoff + jitter), deduplication and idempotency, order and exactly-once effects, timeouts and sizes, signatures (HMAC/mTLS), queues, DLQ and replays, status code processing, dashboards, tests and checklists. Included are recommended titles, event diagrams, and sample configs.
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Developer Portal and Access Tokens
Complete Developer Portal design guide: application registration, key and OAuth2/JWT issuance, scopes and roles, quotas/limits and billing, sandbox and test data, token management (lifecycle, rotation, recall), security (HMAC/mTLS/JWKS), webhook management, analytics and reporting, processes depressions and incident-communications. Includes data schemas, OpenAPI examples, checklists, and implementation plan.