# CNI Specification

**Canonical:** https://apis.io/apis/cni/cni-spec/  
**Provider:** Container Network Interface (CNI) — https://apis.io/providers/cni/  
**Documentation:** https://www.cni.dev/docs/spec/

CNI Specification is one of 2 APIs that [Container Network Interface (CNI)](https://apis.io/providers/cni/) publishes on the [APIs.io](https://apis.io/) network. This API exposes 2 JSON Schema definitions. Tagged areas include Network Plugins and Specification. The published artifact set on APIs.io includes API documentation, a GitHub repository, and 2 JSON Schemas.

The CNI specification defines the interface between container runtimes and network plugins. It specifies how runtimes invoke plugins via environment variables (CNI_COMMAND, CNI_CONTAINERID, CNI_NETNS, CNI_IFNAME, CNI_PATH, CNI_ARGS) and stdin configuration, and how plugins respond on stdout with network interface details. The spec covers ADD, DEL, CHECK, and VERSION operations for managing container network attachments, and defines the plugin chaining model used by meta-plugins.

## Machine-readable artifacts (6)

- **Documentation** — https://www.cni.dev/docs/spec/
- **GitHubRepository** — https://github.com/containernetworking/cni
- **JSONSchema** — https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/cni/refs/heads/main/json-schema/cni-network-config-schema.json
- **JSONSchema** — https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/cni/refs/heads/main/json-schema/cni-result-schema.json
- **JSONLDContext** — https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/cni/refs/heads/main/json-ld/cni-context.jsonld
- **APIsJSON** — https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/cni/refs/heads/main/apis.yml

## Other Container Network Interface (CNI) APIs (1)

- [CNI Reference Plugins](https://apis.io/apis/cni/cni-plugins/)

## Tags

Network Plugins, Specification

---

Profiled by [API Evangelist](https://apievangelist.com) and published on [APIs.io](https://apis.io/apis/cni/cni-spec/). The API's provider profile, Kin Score and agent-readiness rating are at https://apis.io/providers/cni/.