JWT Auth in Kong

A JSON Web Token carries claims about an identity inside a signed token. Kong can verify its signature and time constraints before the request reaches the backend. This article separates the token structure, the cryptographic credential stored in Kong, and the Consumer representing the client. We then build a reproducible Kong Ingress Controller lab with an HS256-signed JWT and a /jwt route. This lab continues directly from Installing KIC. It reuses the kong Gateway, the echo Service, and the 192.168.121.200 address assigned by MetalLB to kong-gateway-proxy.