# API Auto Registration

This topic provides an overview of API Auto Registration for Tanzu Application Platform.

## Overview

API Auto Registration automates the registration of API specification defined in a workload's
configuration. The registered API specification is accessible in Tanzu Developer Portal
(formerly named Tanzu Application Platform GUI) without any additional steps.

An automated workflow using a supply chain, leverages API Auto Registration to create and manage a
Kubernetes Custom Resource (CR) of kind `APIDescriptor`. A Kubernetes controller periodically
reconciles the CR and updates the API entity in Tanzu Application Platform GUI to achieve automated
API specification registration from origin workloads.

You might also use API Auto Registration without supply chain automation, with other GitOps
processes, or by directly applying an `APIDescriptor` CR to the cluster.

![Flow chart with boxes for each element of the API Auto Registration process.](./images/autoregistering-api-entities-stages.png)

## <a id='getting-started'></a> Getting started

For information about API Auto Registration architecture, or the APIDescriptor CR and API entities
in Tanzu Developer Portal (formerly called Tanzu Application Platform GUI), see [Key Concepts](key-concepts.hbs.md).

For information about configuring iterate, run, and full Tanzu Application Platform cluster profiles, see [Configure API Auto Registration](configuration.hbs.md).

For information about generating API specifications and registering them with Tanzu Developer Portal catalog, see [Use API Auto Registration](usage.hbs.md).

For information about other profiles, install the `api-auto-registration` package. See [Install API Auto Registration](installation.hbs.md).

For information about troubleshooting and debugging API Auto Registration, see [Troubleshooting](troubleshooting.md).