Plano — AI-native Proxy Server and Data Plane for Agentic Apps

Source: https://github.com/katanemo/plano Author: Katanemo Stars: ⭐6,896 Language: Rust Created: 2024-07-09 Updated: 2026-07-22

Core Idea

Plano is an AI-native proxy server and data plane that centralizes routing, orchestration, guardrails, and observability for agentic applications. It pulls out the “hidden middleware” — agent routing, LLM provider switching, safety guardrails, and observability — into a unified out-of-process dataplane, decoupling these concerns from application code.

Key Features

• Orchestration: Low-latency routing between agents, LLM providers, and tools
• Guardrails: Safety and moderation filter hooks
• Observability: Rich agentic signals and traces for continuous improvement
• Smart LLM Routing: Model agility without framework lock-in
• Language Agnostic: Use any language or AI framework
• Built with Envoy Proxy integration, Rust core for performance

Why This Matters

Plano addresses the gap between agent demos and production deployments. The “hidden middleware” problem — routing, guardrails, observability — is exactly what LLMOps platforms need to solve. At 6.9k stars, it’s gaining traction as an AI-native alternative to traditional API gateways, positioning itself as the data plane layer for agentic AI architecture.