# cdk8s-team/cdk8s

Define Kubernetes native apps and abstractions using object-oriented programming

Repository: https://github.com/cdk8s-team/cdk8s
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/cdk8s
Homepage: https://cdk8s.io
Language: JavaScript
License: Apache-2.0
License Family: permissive
Last push: 2026-08-26T16:15:28+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 67/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 99, release rhythm 8, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 3255, "days_push": 7, "days_rel": null, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 0}
- flags: none
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 4851, forks 311 (observed 2026-08-28T04:09:01.419334+00:00)

## What it is
cdk8s is an open-source software development framework for defining Kubernetes applications and reusable abstractions using familiar programming languages (TypeScript, JavaScript, Python, Java, Go) with rich object-oriented APIs. Apps synthesize into standard Kubernetes YAML manifests that can be applied to any cluster via kubectl or GitOps tools.

## Use cases
- define kubernetes manifests with typescript instead of yaml
- generate kubernetes yaml from python code
- build reusable abstractions for kubernetes deployments
- manage kubernetes configuration with loops and conditionals
- use gitops workflow to deploy cdk8s synthesized manifests
- import custom resource definitions into typed apis
- share kubernetes application components as code libraries

## When to choose
- you prefer writing kubernetes config in a real programming language with type checking and IDE support
- you want reusable, testable abstractions across many kubernetes applications
- you use a GitOps pipeline and want generated, reviewable YAML
- you need to support multiple languages across teams defining k8s resources

## When to avoid
- you only need simple static YAML and have no programming background
- you want a tool that directly applies resources to clusters (cdk8s only synthesizes manifests)
- your team is heavily invested in Helm charts or Kustomize workflows
- you need runtime cluster interaction rather than manifest generation

## Facets
- artifact type: framework
- maturity: active
- function: infrastructure-as-code, build-tool, developer-tools, configuration-management, deployment
- domain: cloud-computing, infrastructure-as-code, developer-tools
- platform: cross-platform, python, jvm, go, cli
- tags: kubernetes, cdk, yaml-generation, gitops, constructs, manifests, cncf, devops, containers, automation, nodejs

## Member repositories
- cdk8s-team/cdk8s (main) score 67

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:09:01.419334+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-29T18:18:24.790820+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/cdk8s-team/cdk8s (fetched 2026-08-28T04:09:01.419334+00:00, sha 11033537fe32)
  - homepage: https://cdk8s.io (fetched 2026-08-29T09:01:29.689835+00:00, sha 9851587439df)
  - site_page: https://cdk8s.io/docs/latest (fetched 2026-08-29T09:01:29.692607+00:00, sha b55e0b31a384)
  - site_page: https://cdk8s.io/docs/latest/get-started (fetched 2026-08-29T09:01:29.724800+00:00, sha ac2b68e13010)
  - site_page: https://cdk8s.io/docs/latest/basics (fetched 2026-08-29T09:01:29.778987+00:00, sha ed6168903066)
  - site_page: https://cdk8s.io/docs/latest/plus (fetched 2026-08-29T09:01:29.815412+00:00, sha fb62442a1614)
  - site_page: https://cdk8s.io/docs/latest/examples (fetched 2026-08-29T09:01:29.834986+00:00, sha 69c7006ea7f8)
  - site_page: https://cdk8s.io/docs/latest/CONTRIBUTING (fetched 2026-08-29T09:01:29.836858+00:00, sha edcc9c95c096)
  - site_page: https://cdk8s.io/docs/latest/reference/cdk8s/typescript (fetched 2026-08-29T09:01:29.838874+00:00, sha 17cb2eeb1107)
  - site_page: https://cdk8s.io/docs/latest/reference/cdk8s-plus-32/typescript (fetched 2026-08-29T09:01:29.842060+00:00, sha 07e27d5d807b)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.