KubeVela 1.6: Application Delivery Platform Evolution

Introduction

KubeVela 1.6, released on August 25, 2022, continues to evolve as a modern application delivery platform for Kubernetes. This release improves multi-cloud capabilities, enhances developer experience, and delivers better operational features for deploying applications across hybrid and multi-cloud environments.

This kind of release matters once GitOps becomes a fleet problem: multiple clusters, multiple teams, and the need for safe defaults. The goal is the same—declarative delivery from Git—but with fewer sharp edges in day‑2 operations.

Multi-Cloud & Hybrid Support

• Cloud provider abstraction enables deploying applications across AWS, GCP, Azure, and on-premises.
• Multi-cluster support allows deploying applications across multiple Kubernetes clusters.
• Workflow engine provides flexible deployment pipelines with approval gates and rollback capabilities.
• Policy engine ensures applications adhere to organizational standards and compliance requirements.

Developer Experience Improvements

1. CLI tools provide intuitive commands for application management without kubectl expertise.
2. Web dashboard offers visual interface for application deployment and monitoring.
3. GitOps integration enables declarative application management from Git repositories.
4. Templates simplify creating common application patterns.

Operational Capabilities

• Health checks monitor application health and automatically trigger remediation actions.
• Rollout strategies support canary, blue-green, and rolling deployments.
• Resource management automatically handles resource allocation and scaling.
• Observability provides built-in metrics, logs, and traces for applications.

Application-Centric Model

• Application abstraction enables developers to define applications using high-level concepts.
• Component model allows composing applications from reusable components.
• Trait system enables attaching operational capabilities to components.
• Environment abstraction simplifies deployment across different environments.

Getting Started

velad install
vela install

Create an application:

apiVersion: core.oam.dev/v1beta1
kind: Application
metadata:
  name: my-app
spec:
  components:
  - name: frontend
    type: webservice
    properties:
      image: nginx:latest
      ports:
      - port: 80
    traits:
    - type: ingress
      properties:
        domain: my-app.example.com

Summary

KubeVela 1.6 bridges the gap between developers and Kubernetes, providing a platform that makes application delivery accessible without sacrificing the power of Kubernetes.