Apache OpenWhisk

Apache OpenWhisk is an open-source serverless cloud platform that executes functions in response to events at any scale. It supports multiple programming languages and provides a rich programming model for creating serverless APIs and event-driven applications.

Apache OpenWhisk publishes 6 APIs on the APIs.io network, including Actions API, Activations API, Namespaces API, and 3 more. Tagged areas include Cloud Native, Event-Driven, FaaS, Serverless, and Apache.

The Apache OpenWhisk catalog on APIs.io includes 1 JSON-LD context and 2 Spectral governance rulesets.

Apache OpenWhisk’s developer surface includes authentication, documentation, and 7 more developer resources.

🌐 Visit website 📡 Source on GitHub

43.8/100 developing ▼ -9.1 Agent 34/100 agent aware Full breakdown ↓
scored 2026-07-28 · rubric v0.6

AccessFreemiumSelf serve⚡ Free to try

6 APIs 7 Features 5 Use Cases

Cloud NativeEvent-DrivenFaaSServerlessApacheOpen SourceFunctions

Kin Score

Kin Score How this is scored →
scored 2026-07-28 · rubric v0.6

Composite quality — 43.8/100 · developing

Contract Quality 12.5 / 25

Developer Ergonomics 3.9 / 20

Commercial Clarity 7.9 / 20

Operational Transparency 4.8 / 13

Governance 8.3 / 12

Discoverability 6.5 / 10

Agent readiness — 34/100 · agent aware

Machine-Readable Contract 18 / 18

Agentic Access Contract 10 / 10

MCP Server 0 / 12

Machine-Readable Auth 10 / 10

Idempotency 0 / 9

Stable Error Semantics 0 / 8

Request/Response Examples 7 / 7

Rate-Limit Signaling 7 / 7

Typed Event Surface 0 / 6

Agent Skills 0 / 5

Well-Known Catalog 0 / 4

Consent & Bot Identity 0 / 3

A2A Agent Card 0 / 8

Dry-Run / Simulate Mode 0 / 4

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APIs 6

Individual APIs this provider publishes, each with its own machine-readable definition.

Rate Limits 1

Documented rate limits and quota policies.

Apache Openwhisk Rate Limits

5 limits

RATE LIMITS

FinOps 1

Cost, billing, and metering signals for API financial operations.

Apache Openwhisk Finops

FINOPS

Features 7

Notable capabilities this provider offers.

Serverless Functions

Execute stateless functions in response to events without managing infrastructure

Multi-Language Support

Supports Node.js, Python, Java, Go, PHP, Ruby, Swift, and custom Docker runtimes

Event Triggers

Named event channels that fire actions based on external events

Action Sequences

Compose multiple actions into sequential pipelines

Package System

Pre-built integrations via /whisk.system namespace

REST API

Full REST API for managing all platform resources programmatically

Docker Actions

Custom runtime support via Docker containers for any language

Scroll for all 7

JSON Schema 18

Standalone JSON Schema definitions for this provider's data models.

Scroll for all 18

JSON Structure 18

JSON Structure definitions describing this provider's data shapes.

Scroll for all 18

Examples 18

Example request and response payloads for these APIs.

Scroll for all 18

Use Cases 5

What developers build with this provider.

Event-Driven Microservices

Build loosely coupled microservices that respond to events

IoT Data Processing

Process sensor and device events at scale without infrastructure management

API Backend

Create REST APIs backed by serverless functions

Scheduled Tasks

Run periodic jobs using alarm triggers

Chatbots & Webhooks

Handle Slack, GitHub, and other webhook events

Integrations 6

Pre-built integrations with other platforms and tools.

Slack

Respond to Slack events and slash commands

GitHub

Automate workflows based on GitHub repository events

Apache Kafka

Process Kafka message stream events

Cloudant

React to CouchDB/Cloudant database changes

IBM Cloud

Available as IBM Cloud Functions on IBM Cloud

Kubernetes

Deploy OpenWhisk on Kubernetes using Helm charts

Resources

Documentation 1

Reference material describing how the API behaves

Documentation

Documentation

Agent Surfaces 1

MCP servers, agent skills, and machine-readable catalogs

AgenticAccess

AgenticAccess

Design & Contract 3

Pagination, idempotency, versioning, errors, and events

SpectralRules

SpectralRules

Vocabulary

Vocabulary

JSONLD

JSONLD

Build 1

SDKs, sample code, and the tooling you integrate with

GitHubOrganization

GitHubOrganization

Access & Security 3

Authentication, authorization, and security posture

VulnerabilityDisclosure

VulnerabilityDisclosure

DomainSecurity

DomainSecurity

Authentication

Authentication

Source (apis.yml)

aid: apache-openwhisk
name: Apache OpenWhisk
description: Apache OpenWhisk is an open-source serverless cloud platform that executes functions in response to events at
  any scale. It supports multiple programming languages and provides a rich programming model for creating serverless APIs
  and event-driven applications.
type: Index
accessModel:
  pricing: freemium
  onboarding: self-serve
  trial: false
  try_now: true
  public: false
  label: Freemium · Self-serve signup
  confidence: high
  source:
  - plans
  - authentication
  generated: '2026-07-22'
  method: derived
position: Consumer
access: 3rd-Party
image: https://kinlane-images.s3.amazonaws.com/shared/apis-json/icons/apache-openwhisk.png
tags:
- Cloud Native
- Event-Driven
- FaaS
- Serverless
- Apache
- Open Source
- Functions
created: '2026-03-16'
modified: '2026-05-19'
url: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/apache-openwhisk/refs/heads/main/apis.yml
specificationVersion: '0.19'
apis:
- aid: apache-openwhisk:apache-openwhisk-actions-api
  name: Apache OpenWhisk Actions API
  description: The Actions API from Apache OpenWhisk — 2 operation(s) for actions.
  humanURL: https://openwhisk.apache.org/documentation.html
  tags:
  - Actions
  properties:
  - type: OpenAPI
    url: openapi/apache-openwhisk-actions-api-openapi.yml
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://openwhisk.apache.org/documentation.html
- aid: apache-openwhisk:apache-openwhisk-activations-api
  name: Apache OpenWhisk Activations API
  description: The Activations API from Apache OpenWhisk — 2 operation(s) for activations.
  humanURL: https://openwhisk.apache.org/documentation.html
  tags:
  - Activations
  properties:
  - type: OpenAPI
    url: openapi/apache-openwhisk-activations-api-openapi.yml
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://openwhisk.apache.org/documentation.html
- aid: apache-openwhisk:apache-openwhisk-namespaces-api
  name: Apache OpenWhisk Namespaces API
  description: The Namespaces API from Apache OpenWhisk — 3 operation(s) for namespaces.
  humanURL: https://openwhisk.apache.org/documentation.html
  tags:
  - Namespaces
  properties:
  - type: OpenAPI
    url: openapi/apache-openwhisk-namespaces-api-openapi.yml
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://openwhisk.apache.org/documentation.html
- aid: apache-openwhisk:apache-openwhisk-packages-api
  name: Apache OpenWhisk Packages API
  description: The Packages API from Apache OpenWhisk — 2 operation(s) for packages.
  humanURL: https://openwhisk.apache.org/documentation.html
  tags:
  - Packages
  properties:
  - type: OpenAPI
    url: openapi/apache-openwhisk-packages-api-openapi.yml
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://openwhisk.apache.org/documentation.html
- aid: apache-openwhisk:apache-openwhisk-rules-api
  name: Apache OpenWhisk Rules API
  description: The Rules API from Apache OpenWhisk — 2 operation(s) for rules.
  humanURL: https://openwhisk.apache.org/documentation.html
  tags:
  - Rules
  properties:
  - type: OpenAPI
    url: openapi/apache-openwhisk-rules-api-openapi.yml
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://openwhisk.apache.org/documentation.html
- aid: apache-openwhisk:apache-openwhisk-triggers-api
  name: Apache OpenWhisk Triggers API
  description: The Triggers API from Apache OpenWhisk — 2 operation(s) for triggers.
  humanURL: https://openwhisk.apache.org/documentation.html
  tags:
  - Triggers
  properties:
  - type: OpenAPI
    url: openapi/apache-openwhisk-triggers-api-openapi.yml
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://openwhisk.apache.org/documentation.html
maintainers:
- FN: Kin Lane
  email: info@apievangelist.com
common:
- type: AgenticAccess
  url: agentic-access/apache-openwhisk-agentic-access.yml
- type: VulnerabilityDisclosure
  url: security/apache-openwhisk-vulnerability-disclosure.yml
- type: DomainSecurity
  url: security/apache-openwhisk-domain-security.yml
- type: Authentication
  url: authentication/apache-openwhisk-authentication.yml
- type: GitHubOrganization
  url: https://github.com/apache/openwhisk
- type: Documentation
  url: https://openwhisk.apache.org/
- type: SpectralRules
  url: rules/apache-openwhisk-spectral-rules.yml
- type: Vocabulary
  url: vocabulary/apache-openwhisk-vocabulary.yaml
- type: JSONLD
  url: json-ld/apache-openwhisk-context.jsonld
- type: Features
  data:
  - name: Serverless Functions
    description: Execute stateless functions in response to events without managing infrastructure
  - name: Multi-Language Support
    description: Supports Node.js, Python, Java, Go, PHP, Ruby, Swift, and custom Docker runtimes
  - name: Event Triggers
    description: Named event channels that fire actions based on external events
  - name: Action Sequences
    description: Compose multiple actions into sequential pipelines
  - name: Package System
    description: Pre-built integrations via /whisk.system namespace
  - name: REST API
    description: Full REST API for managing all platform resources programmatically
  - name: Docker Actions
    description: Custom runtime support via Docker containers for any language
- type: UseCases
  data:
  - name: Event-Driven Microservices
    description: Build loosely coupled microservices that respond to events
  - name: IoT Data Processing
    description: Process sensor and device events at scale without infrastructure management
  - name: API Backend
    description: Create REST APIs backed by serverless functions
  - name: Scheduled Tasks
    description: Run periodic jobs using alarm triggers
  - name: Chatbots & Webhooks
    description: Handle Slack, GitHub, and other webhook events
- type: Integrations
  data:
  - name: Slack
    description: Respond to Slack events and slash commands
  - name: GitHub
    description: Automate workflows based on GitHub repository events
  - name: Apache Kafka
    description: Process Kafka message stream events
  - name: Cloudant
    description: React to CouchDB/Cloudant database changes
  - name: IBM Cloud
    description: Available as IBM Cloud Functions on IBM Cloud
  - name: Kubernetes
    description: Deploy OpenWhisk on Kubernetes using Helm charts

Apache OpenWhisk

APIs 6

Pricing Plans 1

Rate Limits 1

FinOps 1

Features 7

Serverless Functions

Multi-Language Support

Event Triggers

Action Sequences

Package System

REST API

Docker Actions

Semantic Vocabularies 1

Spectral Rules 2

JSON Schema 18

JSON Structure 18

Examples 18

Security Posture 3

Agentic Access 1

Use Cases 5

Event-Driven Microservices

IoT Data Processing

API Backend

Scheduled Tasks

Chatbots & Webhooks

Integrations 6

Slack

GitHub

Apache Kafka

Cloudant

IBM Cloud

Kubernetes

Documentation 1

Agent Surfaces 1

Design & Contract 3

Build 1

Access & Security 3

Source (apis.yml)