Tekton

Tekton is an open source framework for creating cloud-native Continuous Integration and Continuous Deployment (CI/CD) pipelines (continuous integration and continuous delivery/deployment automation) on Kubernetes.

• Framework for defining and running CI/CD pipelines as Kubernetes resources (CI/CD automation)
• Reusable building blocks such as Tasks, Pipelines, and Workspaces for pipeline composition (pipeline orchestration)
• Execution on Kubernetes clusters using custom resource definitions and controllers (container orchestration)
• Extensibility through catalogs of shared Tasks and Pipelines and custom integrations (developer productivity tooling)
• Part of the Continuous Delivery Foundation project portfolio for cloud-native delivery workflows (software delivery lifecycle)

More About Tekton

Tekton is an open source framework for building cloud-native CI/CD pipelines (CI/CD automation) that run on Kubernetes. It provides a set of Kubernetes custom resource definitions and controllers that model the steps, dependencies, and resources involved in Continuous Integration (CI) and continuous delivery workflows. The project focuses on enabling teams to describe build, test, and deployment processes as declarative configuration that can be versioned and managed alongside application code.

At the core of Tekton are several Kubernetes custom resources that represent CI/CD concepts (pipeline orchestration). Tasks define individual units of work executed in containers, such as building images, running tests, or deploying to environments. Pipelines define how Tasks are ordered and wired together, including parallelization and sequencing. PipelineRuns and TaskRuns represent concrete executions of these definitions, including parameter values and referenced resources. Workspaces and Resources provide mechanisms for data sharing and handling inputs and outputs.

Tekton is designed to run on Kubernetes clusters (container orchestration), using standard Kubernetes APIs for scheduling, scaling, and security controls. Pipeline and Task definitions are stored as Kubernetes resources, enabling platform teams to manage CI/CD infrastructure using existing cluster management practices. Because execution uses containers, Tekton can work with a wide range of build tools, test frameworks, and deployment utilities, as long as they can run in container images.

The project emphasizes extensibility and reuse (developer productivity tooling). Tekton Catalog provides a community-maintained collection of reusable Tasks and Pipelines that cover common operations such as building container images, interacting with source code repositories, or deploying to Kubernetes. Organizations can define their own catalogs to standardize workflows across teams, enforce policies, and encode organizational practices into shared pipeline components.

Enterprises use Tekton as a foundation for CI/CD platforms and internal developer platforms (software delivery lifecycle). It can function as a backend engine that other tools or user interfaces call through Kubernetes APIs, or as a direct interface for teams comfortable with YAML-based configuration and Git-based workflows. Tekton’s alignment with Kubernetes resource models allows integration with Infrastructure-as-Code (IaC) practices, GitOps workflows, and existing observability and security tooling deployed in clusters.

Within a technical taxonomy, Tekton fits into cloud-native CI/CD frameworks and pipeline orchestration platforms, closely associated with Kubernetes ecosystems. It provides core execution and modeling capabilities for continuous delivery, while enabling higher-level systems, GUIs, and policy engines to build on top of its abstractions for enterprise software delivery.