MGWC study guide
MGWC · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.
The MuleSoft Certified Integration Architect – Level 1 (often abbreviated MCIA Level 1, and catalogued here under the alias MGWC) is an architecture-level credential for integration practitioners who design MuleSoft-based solutions rather than only build individual flows. It suits integration architects, senior developers moving into design roles, and platform leads who own how APIs and integrations fit together across an organisation. The MGWC study guide has 8 sections and about 2,256 words.
01Describe and document integration architecture
The exam tests whether you can turn business requirements into an architecture description that another team can build, govern, and operate. Expect questions on views, non-functional requirements, dependencies, and asset catalogues rather than on drawing tools.
311 words, about 2 min02Design integration solutions using MuleSoft's approach and tooling
The exam tests selecting MuleSoft building blocks and Anypoint tooling that actually fit a requirement: contract design, flow implementation, reusable assets, runtime choice, and sync versus async interaction. API Designer: contract-first RAML or OAS, fragments, mocking, and examples before implementation.
303 words, about 2 min03Apply API-led connectivity and layered API design
The exam tests whether you can place logic in the right API-led layer and defend the reuse economics. Questions often describe a new channel or a second consumer and ask where the change belongs.
285 words, about 1 min04Design and manage APIs with API Manager and policies
The exam tests how API Manager enforces runtime behavior: API instances, autodiscovery, policy ordering, SLA tiers, and the distinction between similar-looking policies. An API instance in API Manager is created from an Exchange asset and linked to a running application through autodiscovery using the API ID.
288 words, about 1 min05Ensure reliability, scalability, and performance of integrations
The exam tests resilience and performance decisions: timeouts, retries, queues, idempotency, caching, streaming, and worker sizing. Expect scenario questions where a downstream system is slow or unavailable.
277 words, about 1 min06Secure integrations and APIs
The exam tests security across transport, identity, authorization, secrets, and data protection, including which controls belong in API Manager and which belong in the application. Use TLS 1.2 or later; use mutual TLS for high-assurance B2B links.
263 words, about 1 min07Handle data transformation, integration patterns, and error handling
The exam tests DataWeave fluency and disciplined error handling: typed transformations, MIME handling, error types, and correct HTTP mapping. Declare input and output MIME types explicitly, for example output application/json with input payload application/xml .
269 words, about 1 min08Support deployment, operations, and CI/CD across environments
The exam tests how an integration moves from source control to each environment with repeatable configuration, tests, and observability. Keep everything in Git and build once, promoting the same artifact.
260 words, about 1 min