The CNCF Technical Oversight Committee (TOC) has voted to accept Tekton as a CNCF incubating project. But what is Tekton?
Tekton is a flexible open source framework for creating continuous integration and delivery (CI/CD) systems. It is used to enable developers to build, test, and deploy across multiple cloud providers and on-premises systems by abstracting away the underlying implementation details.
No doubt attracted by Tekton’s Kubernetes-native DNA, Tekton is distinguished by its ability to operate entirely inside a Kubernetes cluster. It is capable of treating pipelines (which, in this case, we can define as workflow-based collections of tasks arranged in a graph either in sequential or parallel order) as standard Kubernetes resources.
In short, we can say that Tekton serves as a general-purpose, security-minded, Kubernetes-native workflow engine. Where CI/CD tools (such as Jenkins, the widely popularized automation tool) may require a dedicated server, Tekton’s K8S pedigree means that it doesn’t.
Composable Primitives
Its composable primitives (steps, tasks and pipelines) allow developers to orchestrate any type of sequential or parallel workload on Kubernetes. Tekton provides a standard, Kubernetes-native interface for defining these workflows, making them portable and reusable.
Tekton wasn’t initially its own standalone project or technology codebase; instead, it started life back in 2018 as a component of Knative (a Kubernetes-based platform for serverless workloads) and was called knative/build before being renamed in the same year.
As the project itself has matured into a fully-blown framework for Kubernetes-native CI/CD, reaching its stable v1.0 release for the core “Pipelines” component, i.e., the core components and building blocks required to build a CI/CD system – and Tekton Pipelines works by adding custom resources to a Kubernetes cluster.
By joining the CNCF as an Incubating Project, Tekton aligns itself more closely with the ecosystem it powers. It integrates deeply with other CNCF projects like Argo CD (for GitOps) and SPIFFE/SPIRE (for identity), and also Sigstore via OpenSSF (for signing and verification), creating a robust supply chain security story.
“One of the accomplishments I’m most proud of is the broad adoption of Tekton across open source projects, commercial products, and in-house platforms. Seeing teams rely on it in production and build on it within their own ecosystems has been especially rewarding. As a Kubernetes-native project that integrates naturally with other CNCF technologies, Tekton has benefited from close collaboration within the Cloud Native Computing Foundation community,” said Andrea Frittoli, Tekton governing board member.
Core Componentry
Tekton’s core components are as follows:
- Pipelines: The core building blocks (Tasks, Pipelines, Workspaces) for defining CI/CD workflows.
- Triggers: Allows pipelines to be instantiated based on events (like Git pushes or pull requests).
- CLI: A command-line interface for interacting with Tekton resources.
- Dashboard: A web-based UI for visualizing and managing pipelines.
- Chains: A supply chain security tool that automatically signs and attests artifacts built by Tekton.
“What I’m most proud of is how Tekton has shown that CI/CD can be a true Kubernetes-native primitive, not just another layer on top. Seeing projects like Shipwright – itself a CNCF project – and Konflux build on Tekton as their foundation validates that vision. Building all of this alongside a diverse, multi-vendor community with Red Hat, Google, IBM, and many individual contributors has been one of the most rewarding open source experiences of my career,” said Vincent Demeester, Tekton governing board member
Demeester follows up and says that the future of Tekton is all about the presence of trusted artifacts as a means to change how tasks share data. He also points to a simpler developer experience through Pipelines as Code, and deeper collaboration with CNCF projects like Sigstore and Argo CD.
Oversight Committee Rationale
The CNCF Technical Oversight Committee (TOC) provides technical leadership to the cloud native community. It defines and maintains the foundation’s technical vision, approves new projects, and stewards them across maturity levels. The TOC also aligns projects within the overall ecosystem, sets cross-cutting standards and best practices and works with end users to ensure long-term sustainability. As part of its charter, the TOC evaluates and supports projects as they meet the requirements for incubation and continue progressing toward graduation.
Tekton’s progression to CNCF incubation is thought to be a reflection of the project’s strong multi-vendor governance and deep alignment with CNCF projects focused on GitOps, identity and software supply chain security.