[](https://semaphoreci.com/containous/traefik)
[](https://traefik.herokuapp.com)
Imagine that you have deployed a bunch of microservices with the help of an orchestrator (like Swarm or Kubernetes) or a service registry (like etcd or consul).
Now you want users to access these microservices, and you need a reverse proxy.
Traditional reverse-proxies require that you configure _each_ route that will connect paths and subdomains to _each_ microservice. In an environment where you add, remove, kill, upgrade, or scale your services _many_ times a day, the task of keeping the routes up to date becomes tedious.
Træfik listens to your service registry/orchestrator API and instantly generates the routes so your microservices are connected to the outside world -- without further intervention from your part.
- Packaged as a single binary file (made with :heart: with go) and available as a [tiny](https://microbadger.com/images/traefik) [official](https://hub.docker.com/r/_/traefik/) docker image
To save some time, you can clone [Træfik's repository](https://github.com/containous/traefik) and use the quickstart files located in the [examples/quickstart](https://github.com/containous/traefik/tree/master/examples/quickstart/) directory.
You can open a browser and go to [http://localhost:8080](http://localhost:8080) to see Træfik's dashboard (we'll go back there once we have launched a service in step 2).
Go back to your browser ([http://localhost:8080](http://localhost:8080)) and see that Træfik has automatically detected the new container and updated its own configuration.
When Traefik detects new services, it creates the corresponding routes so you can call them ... _let's see!_ (Here, we're using curl)
Go back to your browser ([http://localhost:8080](http://localhost:8080)) and see that Træfik has automatically detected the new instance of the container.
Finally, see that Træfik load-balances between the two instances of your services by running twice the following command:
Now that you have a basic understanding of how Træfik can automatically create the routes to your services and load balance them, it might be time to dive into [the documentation](https://docs.traefik.io/) and let Træfik work for you! Whatever your infrastructure is, there is probably [an available Træfik backend](https://docs.traefik.io/configuration/backends/available) that will do the job.
Our recommendation would be to see for yourself how simple it is to enable HTTPS with [Træfik's let's encrypt integration](https://docs.traefik.io/user-guide/examples/#lets-encrypt-support) using the dedicated [user guide](https://docs.traefik.io/user-guide/docker-and-lets-encrypt/).
## Resources
Here is a talk given by [Emile Vauge](https://github.com/emilevauge) at [GopherCon 2017](https://gophercon.com).
You will learn Træfik basics in less than 10 minutes.
You can grab the latest binary from the [releases](https://github.com/containous/traefik/releases) page and just run it with the [sample configuration file](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/containous/traefik/master/traefik.sample.toml):
```shell
./traefik -c traefik.toml
```
### The Official Docker Image
Using the tiny Docker image:
```shell
docker run -d -p 8080:8080 -p 80:80 -v $PWD/traefik.toml:/etc/traefik/traefik.toml traefik
