# gardener/gardener

Homogeneous Kubernetes clusters at scale on any infrastructure using hosted control planes.

Repository: https://github.com/gardener/gardener
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/gardener
Homepage: https://gardener.cloud
Language: Go
License: Apache-2.0
License Family: permissive
Topics: kubernetes, gardener, golang, cluster, extensibility, controller, k8s, hcp, kubernetes-cluster, kubernetes-in-kubernetes, hosted-control-planes, k8s-in-k8s, hosted-controlplanes
Last push: 2026-08-26T22:41:42+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 95/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:39:23.370411+00:00)
- activity 99, release rhythm 86, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 3154, "days_push": 7, "days_rel": 13, "gap_med": 0, "n_releases_24m": 250}
- flags: none
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 3432, forks 590 (observed 2026-08-28T04:08:04.162998+00:00)

## What it is
Gardener is a Kubernetes-native system for managing the full lifecycle of homogeneous Kubernetes clusters at scale across any cloud or infrastructure provider, using hosted control planes (Kubernetes in Kubernetes). It exposes a declarative Cluster API and an extensibility framework for provider extensions, with automated provisioning, healing, scaling, and version maintenance.

## Use cases
- provision managed kubernetes clusters across multiple clouds with identical configuration
- run kubernetes as a service on my own infrastructure
- manage lifecycle and upgrades of thousands of kubernetes clusters
- host kubernetes control planes efficiently with kubernetes in kubernetes
- enforce security hardening and compliance standards on cluster fleets
- automate day-2 operations like self-healing and auto-scaling for clusters

## When to choose
- you need to operate many Kubernetes clusters with identical, validated configurations across heterogeneous infrastructure
- you want to offer a managed Kubernetes service or internal platform on your own cloud accounts
- you value declarative, Kubernetes-native cluster lifecycle management with strong extensibility

## When to avoid
- you only need a single small cluster - a managed cloud Kubernetes offering or kubeadm is simpler
- you cannot run a dedicated garden/seed cluster to host control planes
- you need SIG Cluster Lifecycle Cluster API ecosystem compatibility without additional integration work

## Facets
- artifact type: service
- maturity: active
- function: container-orchestration, deployment, infrastructure-as-code, workflow-automation, self-hosted
- domain: cloud-computing, infrastructure-as-code, microservices
- platform: go, cloud, self-hosted
- tags: kubernetes-cluster-api, hosted-control-planes, kubeception, multi-cloud, cluster-lifecycle, fleet-management, kubernetes-as-a-service, cncf-conformance, containers, devops, kubernetes, docker

## Member repositories
- gardener/gardener (main) score 95

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:08:04.162998+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 2026-08-29T18:37:45.339676+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/gardener/gardener (fetched 2026-08-28T04:08:04.162998+00:00, sha 437c4590258d)
  - homepage: https://gardener.cloud (fetched 2026-08-29T09:32:08.640615+00:00, sha 8175ad95ba66)
  - site_page: https://gardener.cloud/docs/guides/administer-shoots/scalability (fetched 2026-08-29T09:32:08.655795+00:00, sha 0ab101c2b27c)
  - site_page: https://gardener.cloud/docs (fetched 2026-08-29T09:32:08.649894+00:00, sha bdbbff596459)
  - site_page: https://gardener.cloud/docs/getting-started/podrick-and-the-infinite-garden (fetched 2026-08-29T09:32:08.651768+00:00, sha 42d48b693254)
  - site_page: https://gardener.cloud/docs/getting-started/architecture (fetched 2026-08-29T09:32:08.653956+00:00, sha 6336d36acd61)
  - site_page: https://gardener.cloud/docs/security-and-compliance/kubernetes-hardening (fetched 2026-08-29T09:32:08.657978+00:00, sha 827bca8c3431)
  - site_page: https://gardener.cloud/docs/guides/administer-shoots/maintain-shoot (fetched 2026-08-29T09:32:08.659852+00:00, sha 419474d5ff64)
  - site_page: https://gardener.cloud/docs/getting-started/lifecycle (fetched 2026-08-29T09:32:08.661704+00:00, sha 86cfa08428ad)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.