# What's the magic behind api@internal

**URL:** <https://community.traefik.io/t/whats-the-magic-behind-api-internal/4131>\
**Category:** Traefik v2\
**Tags:** dashboard-api, docker\
**Created:** [January 28, 2020, 9:19am UTC](https://community.traefik.io/t/whats-the-magic-behind-api-internal/4131 "2020-01-28T09:19:12Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Ovski4](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/community.traefik.io/ovski4/32/1510_2.png) [@Ovski4](https://community.traefik.io/u/Ovski4)\
**Post date:** [January 28, 2020, 9:19am UTC](https://community.traefik.io/t/whats-the-magic-behind-api-internal/4131/1 "2020-01-28T09:19:12Z")

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Hi traefik community,

I'm using traefik on a docker swarm.  
I have been trying to understand why traefik uses a service called api@internal, and where does it come from. From what I understand it was created for the sole purpose of exposing the dashboard from the same container as the container where all the service discovery stuff is handled . I could not find any explanation online except from basically "use it to make it work".

- What does api means? Cannot it be something else?
- What does the @ do?
- Same questions with internal

I would like to know if this concept is very specific to the dashboard and exists only for technical reasons, or if this concept could / should be applied on other containers as well.

Thank you for your answer

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**Author:** ![ldez](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/community.traefik.io/ldez/32/5_2.png) [@ldez](https://community.traefik.io/u/ldez)\
**Post date:** [January 28, 2020, 9:47am UTC](https://community.traefik.io/t/whats-the-magic-behind-api-internal/4131/2 "2020-01-28T09:47:33Z")

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Hello,

There are 2 concepts behind this:

- a pure Traefik concept: the `internal` provider namespace
- a more global container: the provider namespace

The global notion of the provider namespace is a way to reference a element from a provider to another provider.

[https://docs.traefik.io/v2.1/middlewares/overview/#provider-namespace](https://docs.traefik.io/v2.1/middlewares/overview/#provider-namespace)

`api@internal` is a not a container concept, it's a pure Traefik concept, so it cannot be applied to other thing than Traefik it-self.

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**Author:** ![Ovski4](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/community.traefik.io/ovski4/32/1510_2.png) [@Ovski4](https://community.traefik.io/u/Ovski4)\
**Post date:** [January 28, 2020, 2:37pm UTC](https://community.traefik.io/t/whats-the-magic-behind-api-internal/4131/3 "2020-01-28T14:37:54Z")

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Ok I get it, I didn't search for the namespace keyword. This makes sense now.

I assume it does not work only with middlewares then. A router in some provider must be able to refer to a service defined with another provider (I guess this is what's happening with api@internal, api being the service name defined internally)