# Extending Messaging (Middlewares)

Ecotone exposes hooks at every step of a message's lifecycle. Use **Interceptors** (Before/Around/After/Presend) to add cross-cutting behaviour like logging, authorization, retries, or transactions without touching your handlers. Use **Message Headers** to read and write metadata that flows alongside the payload. Use **Custom Gateways** to attach policies (retries, dedup, error channels) to typed bus interfaces.

{% content-ref url="/pages/mFcdNxpqpBXoAWPu1l56" %}
[Message Headers](/modelling/extending-messaging-middlewares/message-headers.md)
{% endcontent-ref %}

{% content-ref url="/pages/-Lwi7i-PxTnIw8Bhxk5z" %}
[Interceptors (Middlewares)](/modelling/extending-messaging-middlewares/interceptors.md)
{% endcontent-ref %}

{% content-ref url="/pages/vnb2YOougQgkQteXFjNY" %}
[Intercepting Asynchronous Endpoints](/modelling/extending-messaging-middlewares/intercepting-asynchronous-endpoints.md)
{% endcontent-ref %}

{% content-ref url="/pages/alxWoMdekQ6i8986Ni6J" %}
[Extending Message Buses (Gateways)](/modelling/extending-messaging-middlewares/extending-message-buses-gateways.md)
{% endcontent-ref %}


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