# werf

A solution for implementing efficient and consistent software delivery to Kubernetes facilitating best practices.

Repository: https://github.com/werf/werf
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/werf
Homepage: https://werf.io
Language: Go
License: Apache-2.0
License Family: permissive
Topics: iac, docker, devops, kubernetes, continuous-integration, continuous-delivery, ci-cd, docker-image, werf, gitops, dockerfile, giterminism, buildah, helm, golang
Last push: 2026-08-26T13:44:19+00:00
Link (homepage): https://werf.io
Link (site_page): https://werf.io/docs/v2
Link (site_page): https://werf.io/about/release_channels.html
Link (site_page): https://werf.io/about/changelog.html

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 94/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:39:23.370411+00:00)
- activity 99, release rhythm 85, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 3873, "days_push": 7, "days_rel": 22, "gap_med": 2.0, "n_releases_24m": 187}
- flags: none
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 4717, forks 238 (observed 2026-08-28T04:08:57.464816+00:00)

## What it is
werf is a CNCF Sandbox CLI tool that implements full-cycle CI/CD for Kubernetes, integrating with your CI system to build, publish, test, and deploy container images using Git, Dockerfile, Helm, and Buildah. It provides deterministic, reproducible delivery with features like content-based tagging, incremental builds, enhanced Helm resource tracking, and automated container registry cleanup.

## Use cases
- deploy applications to kubernetes from ci
- build and publish docker images in a ci pipeline
- gitops delivery to kubernetes
- clean up unused images in a container registry
- manage helm deployments with better resource tracking
- reproducible container image builds from git
- ci/cd for monorepo with multiple services
- implement infrastructure as code for kubernetes delivery

## When to choose
- you want an all-in-one build-and-deploy tool for Kubernetes that glues Git, Dockerfile, Helm, and Buildah
- you need deterministic, reproducible CI/CD with Git as the single source of truth (giterminism)
- you want automatic build caching, content-based tagging, and registry cleanup out of the box
- you deploy from a monorepo and need independent image tagging per component
- you want a production-proven tool (used since 2017) with CNCF Sandbox backing

## When to avoid
- you deploy to non-Kubernetes targets like VMs or serverless platforms
- you already have a mature pipeline with separate tools (e.g., plain Docker + Helm + Argo CD) and don't want to migrate
- you need a GUI or dashboard-driven delivery platform rather than a CLI
- your team is unwilling to adopt werf.yaml configuration and the giterminism workflow

## Facets
- artifact type: cli-tool
- maturity: stable
- function: deployment, build-tool, container-runtime, ci-cd, infrastructure-as-code, developer-tools
- domain: cloud-computing, infrastructure-as-code, developer-tools
- platform: windows, cli, cloud, go
- tags: kubernetes, helm, gitops, dockerfile, buildah, giterminism, container-registry, cncf-sandbox, continuous-delivery, image-cleanup, devops, containers, automation, linux, macos, docker

## Member repositories
- werf/werf (main) score 94
- werf/nelm (backend) score 91

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:08:57.464816+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 2026-08-29T18:19:06.850529+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/werf/werf (fetched 2026-08-28T04:08:57.464816+00:00, sha b244ddbc95a0)
  - homepage: https://werf.io (fetched 2026-08-29T09:03:02.656517+00:00, sha 60b80c913536)
  - site_page: https://werf.io/docs/v2 (fetched 2026-08-29T09:03:02.667353+00:00, sha 9ee593c82373)
  - site_page: https://werf.io/about/release_channels.html (fetched 2026-08-29T09:03:02.669705+00:00, sha d124d4111b3d)
  - site_page: https://werf.io/about/changelog.html (fetched 2026-08-29T09:03:02.671752+00:00, sha a3a16db55cd4)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.