k0rdent: Kubernetes-Native Platform Engineering for Internal Developer Platforms

Introduction

Platform engineering teams usually end up building the same three things over and over: golden paths, safe self-service, and guardrails that don’t slow developers down. The hard part isn’t creating a YAML template—it’s keeping those templates consistent across teams, clusters, and environments without turning platform work into endless bespoke support.

k0rdent, introduced by Mirantis in February 2025, is an open-source, Kubernetes-native environment aimed at that exact gap. It helps platform engineers design, automate, and operate Internal Developer Platforms (IDPs) using Kubernetes-native building blocks, with an emphasis on repeatability and multi-team governance.

A quick mental model

• Think of it as: an IDP control plane that turns platform patterns into reusable, governed templates.
• You’ll like it if: you manage multiple teams/clusters and want consistent provisioning without copy/paste drift.
• Watch-outs: the value comes from platform standards—without ownership of templates/policies, tools like this can amplify inconsistency.

Internal Developer Platform (IDP) Management

• Platform design enables visual design and configuration of Internal Developer Platforms using Kubernetes-native resources.
• Automated provisioning automates the creation and management of developer environments and resources.
• Consistent templates provides reusable templates for common platform configurations and patterns.
• Multi-tenant support enables secure, isolated environments for different teams and projects.

Kubernetes-Native Architecture

1. Native integration leverages Kubernetes CRDs and operators for seamless integration with existing clusters.
2. Declarative configuration uses Kubernetes YAML manifests for defining and managing platform components.
3. Operator-based management provides automated lifecycle management through Kubernetes operators.
4. Resource orchestration coordinates complex multi-resource deployments across namespaces and clusters.

Container Management

• Container orchestration simplifies the deployment and management of containerized applications and services.
• Resource optimization provides intelligent resource allocation and optimization recommendations.
• Lifecycle management automates container lifecycle operations including scaling, updates, and cleanup.
• Health monitoring provides real-time health checks and automated recovery for container workloads.

Platform Automation

• Workflow automation enables defining and executing complex platform workflows and processes.
• Self-service capabilities empowers developers to provision and manage their own environments safely.
• Policy enforcement ensures compliance with organizational policies and best practices.
• Integration hooks provides extensibility through webhooks and API integrations.

Developer Experience

• Simplified interfaces provides intuitive interfaces for developers to interact with platform resources.
• Fast provisioning enables rapid provisioning of development environments and resources.
• Configuration management simplifies configuration of applications and services across environments.
• Documentation integration embeds documentation and best practices directly into the platform interface.

Use Cases

• Internal Developer Platforms enables building and managing IDPs that abstract Kubernetes complexity from developers.
• Multi-team environments supports multiple teams with isolated, consistent development environments.
• CI/CD integration seamlessly integrates with CI/CD pipelines for automated testing and deployment.
• Resource standardization ensures consistent resource provisioning and configuration across the organization.

Getting Started

# Install k0rdent operator
kubectl apply -f https://github.com/k0rdent/k0rdent/releases/latest/download/install.yaml

# Create a namespace for platform resources
kubectl create namespace platform

# Define your IDP configuration
cat <<EOF | kubectl apply -f -
apiVersion: platform.k0rdent.io/v1alpha1
kind: DeveloperPlatform
metadata:
  name: my-platform
  namespace: platform
spec:
  name: My Internal Developer Platform
  description: Platform for application teams
  templates:
    - name: web-app-template
      resources:
        - kind: Deployment
          name: web-app
EOF

Access the k0rdent dashboard:

# Port-forward to access the dashboard
kubectl port-forward -n k0rdent svc/k0rdent-dashboard 8080:80

# Open http://localhost:8080 in your browser

Architecture

• Control plane provides centralized management and orchestration of platform resources.
• Resource agents deploy lightweight agents to clusters for local resource management.
• Template engine processes templates and generates Kubernetes resources dynamically.
• API server exposes RESTful APIs for programmatic platform management.

Summary

k0rdent represents a significant step forward in platform engineering, providing teams with the tools needed to build and manage sophisticated Internal Developer Platforms on Kubernetes while maintaining the flexibility and power of cloud-native technologies.