Cloud Native Buildpacks

aid: cloud-native-buildpacks
name: Cloud Native Buildpacks
description: >-
  Cloud Native Buildpacks (CNB) is a CNCF-graduated specification and
  set of tooling for transforming application source code into OCI
  images that can run on any cloud. The project unifies the Heroku and
  Cloud Foundry buildpack ecosystems around an open standard for
  detection, build, and image export. The reference implementation
  lifecycle, the pack CLI for local builds, the kpack server-side
  builder, and a registry of distribution buildpacks together form the
  CNB ecosystem. CNB is built around a documented Buildpack API,
  Platform API, and Distribution API, all versioned and published in
  the github.com/buildpacks specifications.
type: Index
image: https://kinlane-productions.s3.amazonaws.com/apis-json/apis-json-logo.jpg
url: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/cloud-native-buildpacks/refs/heads/main/apis.yml
created: '2024-01-01'
modified: '2026-04-23'
specificationVersion: '0.19'
kind: opensource
tags:
  - Buildpacks
  - CNCF
  - Containers
  - Images
  - OCI
  - Open Source
  - Platform
  - Reproducible Builds
apis:
  - aid: cloud-native-buildpacks:buildpack-api
    name: Buildpack API
    tags:
      - Buildpacks
      - Specification
    image: https://kinlane-productions2.s3.amazonaws.com/apis-json/apis-json-logo.jpg
    humanURL: https://github.com/buildpacks/spec/blob/main/buildpack.md
    properties:
      - url: https://github.com/buildpacks/spec/blob/main/buildpack.md
        type: Specification
      - url: https://buildpacks.io/docs/for-buildpack-authors/
        type: Documentation
    description: >-
      The Buildpack API is the contract between a buildpack and the
      lifecycle. It defines the detect and build executables, layers,
      build-plan provisions and requirements, and image extension
      lifecycle that buildpack authors implement to participate in a
      CNB build.
  - aid: cloud-native-buildpacks:platform-api
    name: Platform API
    tags:
      - Lifecycle
      - Platform
      - Specification
    image: https://kinlane-productions2.s3.amazonaws.com/apis-json/apis-json-logo.jpg
    humanURL: https://github.com/buildpacks/spec/blob/main/platform.md
    properties:
      - url: https://github.com/buildpacks/spec/blob/main/platform.md
        type: Specification
      - url: https://buildpacks.io/docs/for-platform-operators/
        type: Documentation
    description: >-
      The Platform API is the contract between the CNB lifecycle and
      a platform such as pack, kpack, or a CI runner. It defines how
      builders, stacks, run images, and inputs are passed to the
      lifecycle phases (analyze, detect, restore, build, export, and
      rebase) and how outputs are consumed.
  - aid: cloud-native-buildpacks:distribution-api
    name: Distribution API
    tags:
      - Distribution
      - Registries
      - Specification
    image: https://kinlane-productions2.s3.amazonaws.com/apis-json/apis-json-logo.jpg
    humanURL: https://github.com/buildpacks/spec/blob/main/distribution.md
    properties:
      - url: https://github.com/buildpacks/spec/blob/main/distribution.md
        type: Specification
    description: >-
      The Distribution API specifies how buildpacks and builders are
      packaged as OCI artifacts, signed, and distributed through OCI
      registries. It also covers how meta-buildpacks compose other
      buildpacks and how stacks and run images are referenced.
  - aid: cloud-native-buildpacks:pack-cli
    name: pack CLI
    tags:
      - CLI
      - Tooling
    image: https://kinlane-productions2.s3.amazonaws.com/apis-json/apis-json-logo.jpg
    humanURL: https://buildpacks.io/docs/for-app-developers/how-to/build-inputs/
    properties:
      - url: https://buildpacks.io/docs/for-app-developers/how-to/build-inputs/
        type: Documentation
      - url: https://github.com/buildpacks/pack
        type: Source Code
    description: >-
      pack is the reference command-line interface for Cloud Native
      Buildpacks. It implements the Platform API to build OCI images
      from source on a developer's workstation, manages builders and
      buildpack packages, and integrates with Docker and OCI registries.
  - aid: cloud-native-buildpacks:lifecycle
    name: CNB Lifecycle
    tags:
      - Lifecycle
      - Reference Implementation
    image: https://kinlane-productions2.s3.amazonaws.com/apis-json/apis-json-logo.jpg
    humanURL: https://github.com/buildpacks/lifecycle
    properties:
      - url: https://github.com/buildpacks/lifecycle
        type: Source Code
      - url: https://buildpacks.io/docs/for-platform-operators/concepts/lifecycle/
        type: Documentation
    description: >-
      The CNB Lifecycle is the reference implementation of the
      Buildpack and Platform APIs. It runs the detect, analyze,
      restore, build, export, and rebase phases used by all CNB
      platforms to produce reproducible OCI images.
  - aid: cloud-native-buildpacks:kpack
    name: kpack
    tags:
      - Kubernetes
      - Server-side Builds
    image: https://kinlane-productions2.s3.amazonaws.com/apis-json/apis-json-logo.jpg
    humanURL: https://github.com/buildpacks-community/kpack
    properties:
      - url: https://github.com/buildpacks-community/kpack
        type: Source Code
      - url: https://github.com/buildpacks-community/kpack/blob/main/docs/image.md
        type: Documentation
    description: >-
      kpack is a community Kubernetes-native implementation of Cloud
      Native Buildpacks. It exposes Image, Builder, ClusterBuilder,
      and ClusterStack custom resources for declaring continuously
      rebuilt OCI images using CNB.
  - aid: cloud-native-buildpacks:registry
    name: Buildpack Registry
    tags:
      - Discovery
      - Registry
    image: https://kinlane-productions2.s3.amazonaws.com/apis-json/apis-json-logo.jpg
    humanURL: https://registry.buildpacks.io/
    properties:
      - url: https://registry.buildpacks.io/
        type: Registry
      - url: https://github.com/buildpacks/registry-api
        type: Source Code
    description: >-
      The Cloud Native Buildpacks registry indexes published
      buildpacks for discovery and reuse. It mirrors metadata for
      buildpack packages stored in OCI registries and exposes a
      browseable catalog at registry.buildpacks.io.
common:
  - type: Website
    url: https://buildpacks.io/
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://buildpacks.io/docs/
  - type: Specification
    url: https://github.com/buildpacks/spec
  - type: GitHub
    url: https://github.com/buildpacks
  - type: Community
    url: https://buildpacks.io/community/
  - type: Slack
    url: https://slack.cncf.io/
  - type: Blog
    url: https://medium.com/buildpacks
  - type: RoadMap
    url: https://github.com/buildpacks/roadmap
  - type: CNCF
    url: https://www.cncf.io/projects/buildpacks/
  - type: JSONLD
    url: json-ld/cloud-native-buildpacks-context.jsonld
  - type: Spectral
    url: rules/cloud-native-buildpacks-rules.yml
  - type: Naftiko Capabilities
    url: capabilities/cloud-native-buildpacks.yaml
maintainers:
  - FN: Kin Lane
    email: [email protected]