# longhorn/longhorn

Cloud-Native distributed storage built on and for Kubernetes

Repository: https://github.com/longhorn/longhorn
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/longhorn
Homepage: https://longhorn.io
Language: Shell
License: Apache-2.0
License Family: permissive
Topics: kubernetes, longhorn, k8s-sig-storage, distributed-systems, high-availability, storage, cncf
Last push: 2026-08-26T14:10:52+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 98/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 99, release rhythm 97, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 3428, "days_push": 7, "days_rel": 20, "gap_med": 28, "n_releases_24m": 20}
- flags: none
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 7938, forks 733 (observed 2026-08-28T04:10:09.961662+00:00)

## What it is
Longhorn is a cloud-native distributed block storage system for Kubernetes that adds persistent volume support to any cluster with a single kubectl apply or Helm install. It replicates volumes across nodes, provides incremental snapshots, backups to NFS or S3, cross-cluster disaster recovery, and a built-in management UI.

## Use cases
- add persistent storage to a bare-metal or self-managed Kubernetes cluster
- replicated block storage without an external SAN or storage array
- scheduled snapshots and backups of Kubernetes PVCs to S3 or NFS
- cross-cluster disaster recovery with defined RPO/RTO
- manage Kubernetes storage volumes through a web UI
- survive node failures with highly available replicated volumes

## When to choose
- you run Kubernetes on your own hardware or VMs and need persistent volumes
- you want software-defined replicated storage without proprietary storage arrays
- you need snapshots, backups, and DR volumes for stateful workloads
- you want storage managed entirely through Kubernetes primitives and CSI

## When to avoid
- you are on managed cloud with native storage classes like EBS or Persistent Disk
- you need extreme low-latency or very high-throughput storage for demanding databases
- you run a single-node cluster where replication adds little value
- you need shared filesystem storage as the primary use case rather than block volumes

## Facets
- artifact type: service
- maturity: stable
- function: backup, file-system, self-hosted, deployment
- domain: microservices, cloud-computing, infrastructure-as-code
- platform: self-hosted, cloud
- tags: distributed-block-storage, csi-driver, persistent-volumes, cncf-incubating, storage-orchestration, disaster-recovery, snapshots, high-availability, containers, devops, kubernetes, docker, linux

## Member repositories
- longhorn/longhorn (main) score 98

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:10:09.961662+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 2026-08-29T17:33:14.301509+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/longhorn/longhorn (fetched 2026-08-28T04:10:09.961662+00:00, sha 6a2b0b24d015)
  - homepage: https://longhorn.io (fetched 2026-08-29T08:30:02.417144+00:00, sha 170b738e3ee1)
  - site_page: https://longhorn.io/docs/1.12.1 (fetched 2026-08-29T08:30:02.426221+00:00, sha 45ec24adee5d)
  - site_page: https://longhorn.io/docs/1.12.0 (fetched 2026-08-29T08:30:02.428481+00:00, sha 5e47d21fd4d9)
  - site_page: https://longhorn.io/docs/1.11.3 (fetched 2026-08-29T08:30:02.430499+00:00, sha 07cce8b3fbd6)
  - site_page: https://longhorn.io/docs/1.11.2 (fetched 2026-08-29T08:30:02.432569+00:00, sha 02e97b20eccc)
  - site_page: https://longhorn.io/docs/1.11.1 (fetched 2026-08-29T08:30:02.435371+00:00, sha 41a99b76b144)
  - site_page: https://longhorn.io/docs/1.11.0 (fetched 2026-08-29T08:30:02.438121+00:00, sha 4f0498f64504)
  - site_page: https://longhorn.io/docs/1.13.0 (fetched 2026-08-29T08:30:02.440391+00:00, sha d1b56e7bed42)
  - site_page: https://longhorn.io/docs/1.12.2 (fetched 2026-08-29T08:30:02.442387+00:00, sha cc13d260214d)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.