Cloud Native Buildpacks (CNB) is a CNCF Graduated project (graduated 2026-07-17) that transforms application source code into OCI images that can run on any cloud. The v3 specification — Buildpack API 0.12, Platform API 0.15, and Distribution API 0.3 — defines a modular, vendor-neutral contract between buildpacks, builders, lifecycles, and platforms. CNB consolidates a decade of production experience from Heroku and Pivotal/Cloud Foundry and provides the reference lifecycle (buildpacksio/lifecycle), the `pack` CLI, language bindings (libcnb in Go/Rust/.NET), the Kubernetes-native `kpack` platform, the public community registry at registry.buildpacks.io, and an open RFC-driven governance model.
Buildpacks Io publishes 8 API contracts indexed on the APIs.io network, including buildpacks-io Buildpacks API, buildpacks-io Search API, and 6 more. Tagged areas include Cloud Native Buildpacks, Container Images, Build Automation, CNCF, and Open Source.
The Buildpacks Io catalog on APIs.io includes 1 JSON-LD context and 2 Spectral governance rulesets.
Buildpacks Io’s developer surface includes developer portal, documentation, getting-started guide, engineering blog, tooling, code examples, CLI, and 65 more developer resources.
Regulatory Posture applies to this provider. Its tags matched the
Horizontal (data, software, accessibility, platform) regime, so
Regulatory Posture carries 15 points of the composite.
If this regime is wrong for your business, say so on your
provider repo — the
applicability map is public and we will correct it.
Create-or-Update Ergonomics does not apply to this provider. The published contracts declare
no write operations, and a read-only API cannot create-or-update. The facet is excluded from this provider's
denominator entirely — not scored zero. A reference or data API is not deficient for being unable to
upsert.
The six quality facets above are damped to 85 points between them,
because the conditional facet above carries the other
15. That is why each facet's contribution is shown against a damped
maximum: raising a quality facet moves the composite by 85% of its nominal
weight, not 100%. The full arithmetic is at apis.io/rating/.
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Agent readiness — checks not met, largest first (exact, from this profile):
MCP Server+12 pts — deployment.mode + probe verdict on the mcp/ manifest, not the pointer; an unprobed slug falls back to authorship
A2A Agent Card+8 pts — a2a/-a2a.yml manifest, graded on conformance.grade against A2A 1.0.0
Delegated User Identity+6 pts — a served discovery document listing authorization_code in grant_types_supported (served), else an oauth2 authorizationCode flow or openIdConnect declared in an OpenAPI (documented)
Typed Event Surface+6 pts — AsyncAPI document, OR webhooks/callbacks objects in the as-published OpenAPI, OR common[].type includes Webhooks
Protected Resource Metadata+5 pts — a served /.well-known/oauth-protected-resource carrying `resource` (documented), and naming its authorization_servers (verified)
3 more unmet checks in the Agent Readiness table above.
Kin Score — facets with the most composite points still available (weight × headroom):
Access Clarityscores 18.4 — up to +16.3 composite points
Standards this provider implements or carries. De facto ones are profiled and measured by the API Commons; formal ones come from the standards directory and are linked by the provider's own tags. The evidence column says how each claim was established — not that it was made.
The Buildpack API (currently 0.12) defines the contract between an individual buildpack and the lifecycle. It specifies the on-disk layout of a buildpack (buildpack.toml, bin/de...
The Platform API (currently 0.15) defines how platforms (pack, kpack, Tekton Pipelines, GitLab Auto DevOps, CircleCI Orb, Project Piper) orchestrate the lifecycle. Specifies the...
The Distribution API (currently 0.3) defines how buildpacks, extensions, and builders are packaged as OCI artifacts and published to OCI registries. Covers labels (io.buildpacks...
Image extensions emit Dockerfile snippets applied by the `extender` lifecycle binary to the build and/or run image. Share the buildpack surface (extension.toml, bin/detect, bin/...
The Service Bindings extension specifies how external service credentials and configuration are surfaced to detect and build under $CNB_PLATFORM_DIR/bindings/. Aligns with the S...
Overlays applied on top of this provider's contracts. Each card says who wrote it: a document the provider publishes, or one API Evangelist derived or generated.
name: Buildpacks Io
aid: buildpacks-io
deliveryModel:
model: saas
license_evidence:
not_product:
- buildpacks/community
- buildpacks/registry-api
- buildpacks/registry-index
- buildpacks/rfcs
- buildpacks/spec
open_source: unknown
commercial: true
callable_host: true
label: Hosted service · you call their endpoint
confidence: low
source:
- openapi
- pricing
- repository-not-product
generated: '2026-09-25'
method: derived
accessModel:
pricing: unknown
onboarding: open
trial: false
try_now: false
public: true
gated: none
gated_source:
- onboarding
label: Open access
confidence: medium
source:
- authentication
- rate-limits
- security
generated: '2026-11-06'
method: derived
image: https://kinlane-images.s3.amazonaws.com/shared/apis-json/icons/buildpacks-io.png
url: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/buildpacks-io/refs/heads/main/apis.yml
apis:
- aid: buildpacks-io:buildpack-spec
name: Buildpack Specification
tags:
- Cloud Native Buildpacks
- Buildpack API
- Specification
- CNCF
humanURL: https://github.com/buildpacks/spec/blob/main/buildpack.md
properties:
- url: https://github.com/buildpacks/spec/blob/main/buildpack.md
type: Documentation
- url: https://github.com/buildpacks/spec
type: Repository
- url: json-schema/buildpacks-buildpack-toml-schema.json
type: JSONSchema
- url: json-schema/buildpacks-build-plan-schema.json
type: JSONSchema
- url: json-schema/buildpacks-launch-toml-schema.json
type: JSONSchema
- url: json-structure/buildpacks-io-structure.json
type: JSONStructure
- url: json-ld/buildpacks-io-context.jsonld
type: JSONLD
description: The Buildpack API (currently 0.12) defines the contract between an individual buildpack and the lifecycle.
It specifies the on-disk layout of a buildpack (buildpack.toml, bin/detect, bin/build), the build plan provides/requires
graph, layer types (launch/build/cache), launch.toml and build.toml outputs, target declarations (os/arch/distros), SBOM
emission, and the CNB_* environment variable contract.
- aid: buildpacks-io:platform-spec
name: Platform Specification
tags:
- Cloud Native Buildpacks
- Platform API
- Specification
- CNCF
humanURL: https://github.com/buildpacks/spec/blob/main/platform.md
properties:
- url: https://github.com/buildpacks/spec/blob/main/platform.md
type: Documentation
- url: https://github.com/buildpacks/spec
type: Repository
- url: json-structure/buildpacks-io-structure.json
type: JSONStructure
description: The Platform API (currently 0.15) defines how platforms (pack, kpack, Tekton Pipelines, GitLab Auto DevOps,
CircleCI Orb, Project Piper) orchestrate the lifecycle. Specifies the lifecycle binary surface (analyzer, detector, restorer,
extender, builder, exporter, creator, rebaser, launcher), the TOML files exchanged on disk (group.toml, plan.toml, order.toml,
run.toml, metadata.toml, report.toml, analyzed.toml, project-metadata.toml), the standard io.buildpacks.* OCI image labels,
and runtime process selection.
- aid: buildpacks-io:distribution-spec
name: Distribution Specification
tags:
- Cloud Native Buildpacks
- Distribution
- OCI
- CNCF
humanURL: https://github.com/buildpacks/spec/blob/main/distribution.md
properties:
- url: https://github.com/buildpacks/spec/blob/main/distribution.md
type: Documentation
- url: https://github.com/buildpacks/spec
type: Repository
description: The Distribution API (currently 0.3) defines how buildpacks, extensions, and builders are packaged as OCI artifacts
and published to OCI registries. Covers labels (io.buildpacks.buildpack.api, io.buildpacks.buildpack.layers), multi-buildpack
OCI artifacts, and image extension distribution.
- aid: buildpacks-io:image-extension-spec
name: Image Extension Specification
tags:
- Cloud Native Buildpacks
- Image Extension
- Dockerfile
- Specification
humanURL: https://github.com/buildpacks/spec/blob/main/image_extension.md
properties:
- url: https://github.com/buildpacks/spec/blob/main/image_extension.md
type: Documentation
- url: https://github.com/buildpacks/spec
type: Repository
description: Image extensions emit Dockerfile snippets applied by the `extender` lifecycle binary to the build and/or run
image. Share the buildpack surface (extension.toml, bin/detect, bin/generate) but produce Dockerfile output instead of
layers — enabling base-image customization (apt packages, native libs) inside a buildpacks workflow.
- aid: buildpacks-io:project-descriptor-spec
name: Project Descriptor (project.toml)
tags:
- Cloud Native Buildpacks
- Project Descriptor
- App Surface
humanURL: https://github.com/buildpacks/spec/blob/main/extensions/project-descriptor.md
properties:
- url: https://github.com/buildpacks/spec/blob/main/extensions/project-descriptor.md
type: Documentation
- url: json-schema/buildpacks-project-toml-schema.json
type: JSONSchema
description: The Project Descriptor extension defines project.toml — the optional app-root file letting developers declare
their builder image, include/exclude globs, buildpack overrides (pre/group/post), and build-time env vars. Read by `pack
build` and other platforms before invoking the lifecycle.
- aid: buildpacks-io:service-bindings-spec
name: Service Bindings Extension
tags:
- Cloud Native Buildpacks
- Service Bindings
- Kubernetes
humanURL: https://github.com/buildpacks/spec/blob/main/extensions/bindings.md
properties:
- url: https://github.com/buildpacks/spec/blob/main/extensions/bindings.md
type: Documentation
description: The Service Bindings extension specifies how external service credentials and configuration are surfaced to
detect and build under $CNB_PLATFORM_DIR/bindings/. Aligns with the Service Binding Specification for Kubernetes and lets
buildpacks discover databases, message brokers, and CA bundles without provider coupling.
- aid: buildpacks-io:buildpacks-io-buildpacks-api
name: buildpacks-io Buildpacks API
description: Retrieve buildpack version metadata
humanURL: https://github.com/buildpacks/spec/blob/main/extensions/buildpack-registry.md
baseURL: https://registry.buildpacks.io/api/v1
tags:
- Cloud Native Buildpacks
tags_raw:
- Buildpacks
properties:
- type: OpenAPI
url: openapi/buildpacks-io-buildpacks-api-openapi.yml
- type: Documentation
url: https://github.com/buildpacks/spec/blob/main/extensions/buildpack-registry.md
- type: Portal
url: https://registry.buildpacks.io
- type: Repository
url: https://github.com/buildpacks/registry-index
- type: Repository
url: https://github.com/buildpacks/registry-api
- type: Examples
url: examples/buildpacks-registry-search-example.json
- type: Examples
url: examples/buildpacks-registry-version-example.json
- type: Examples
url: examples/buildpacks-registry-versions-list-example.json
- type: Overlay
url: overlays/buildpacks-io-buildpacks-api-overlay.yaml
- type: APIReference
url: https://github.com/buildpacks/registry-api
name: Registry API endpoint reference
- aid: buildpacks-io:buildpacks-io-search-api
name: buildpacks-io Search API
description: Search the buildpack registry by keyword
humanURL: https://github.com/buildpacks/spec/blob/main/extensions/buildpack-registry.md
baseURL: https://registry.buildpacks.io/api/v1
tags:
- Search
properties:
- type: OpenAPI
url: openapi/buildpacks-io-search-api-openapi.yml
- type: Documentation
url: https://github.com/buildpacks/spec/blob/main/extensions/buildpack-registry.md
- type: Portal
url: https://registry.buildpacks.io
- type: Repository
url: https://github.com/buildpacks/registry-index
- type: Repository
url: https://github.com/buildpacks/registry-api
- type: Examples
url: examples/buildpacks-registry-search-example.json
- type: Examples
url: examples/buildpacks-registry-version-example.json
- type: Overlay
url: overlays/buildpacks-io-search-api-overlay.yaml
- type: APIReference
url: https://github.com/buildpacks/registry-api
name: Registry API endpoint reference
common:
- type: CapabilityMap
url: capabilities/buildpacks-io-capability-edges.yml
name: Buildpacks Io Business Capability Map
- type: Website
url: https://www.buildpacks.io/
- type: IssueTracker
url: https://github.com/buildpacks/registry-index/issues
- type: CodeOfConduct
url: https://github.com/buildpacks/.github/blob/main/CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md
- type: ContributionGuide
url: https://github.com/buildpacks/.github/blob/main/CONTRIBUTING.md
- type: AgenticAccess
url: agentic-access/buildpacks-io-agentic-access.yml
- type: DomainSecurity
url: security/buildpacks-io-domain-security.yml
- url: https://buildpacks.io
type: Portal
- url: https://buildpacks.io/docs/
type: Documentation
- url: https://buildpacks.io/docs/for-app-developers/concepts/
name: Concepts
type: Documentation
- url: https://buildpacks.io/docs/for-app-developers/
name: For App Developers
type: Documentation
- url: https://buildpacks.io/docs/for-buildpack-authors/
name: For Buildpack Authors
type: Documentation
- url: https://buildpacks.io/docs/for-platform-operators/
name: For Platform Operators
type: Documentation
- url: https://buildpacks.io/docs/reference/
name: Reference
type: Documentation
- url: https://buildpacks.io/docs/app-journey
name: An App's Brief Journey from Source to Image
type: GettingStarted
- url: https://buildpacks.io/community/
type: Community
- url: https://medium.com/buildpacks
name: Buildpacks on Medium
type: Blog
- url: https://www.youtube.com/@buildpacks
type: VideoChannel
- url: https://twitter.com/buildpacks_io
type: SocialMedia
- url: https://github.com/buildpacks
name: Cloud Native Buildpacks GitHub
type: GitHubOrganization
- url: https://github.com/buildpacks-community
name: CNB Community GitHub
type: GitHubOrganization
- url: https://github.com/buildpacks/spec
name: Buildpacks Specification
type: Repository
- url: https://github.com/buildpacks/rfcs
name: Buildpacks RFCs
type: Repository
- url: https://github.com/buildpacks/community
name: Community Repository
type: Repository
- url: https://github.com/buildpacks/community/blob/main/GOVERNANCE.md
type: Governance
- url: https://github.com/buildpacks/community/blob/main/ROADMAP.md
type: RoadMap
- url: https://github.com/buildpacks/community/blob/main/TEAMS.md
name: Teams
type: Documentation
- url: https://github.com/buildpacks/community/blob/main/ADOPTERS.md
name: Adopters
type: CaseStudies
- url: https://github.com/buildpacks/pack
name: pack CLI
type: Tools
- url: https://github.com/buildpacks/lifecycle
name: lifecycle
type: Tools
- url: https://hub.docker.com/r/buildpacksio/lifecycle
name: buildpacksio/lifecycle Docker image
type: ContainerImage
- url: https://github.com/buildpacks/libcnb
name: libcnb (Go)
type: SDKs
- url: https://github.com/buildpacks/samples
name: Samples
type: CodeExamples
- url: https://github.com/buildpacks/github-actions
name: GitHub Actions for Buildpacks
type: Tools
- url: https://github.com/buildpacks/pack-orb
name: pack CircleCI Orb
type: Tools
- url: https://github.com/buildpacks-community/kpack
name: kpack (Kubernetes)
type: Tools
- url: https://github.com/buildpacks/registry-index
name: Registry Index
type: Repository
- url: https://github.com/buildpacks/registry-api
name: Registry API
type: Repository
- url: https://registry.buildpacks.io
name: Buildpack Registry
type: Portal
- url: https://buildpacks.devstats.cncf.io/
name: CNCF DevStats
type: Analytics
- url: https://www.cncf.io/projects/buildpacks/
name: CNCF Graduated Project Page
type: Documentation
- url: https://lists.cncf.io/g/cncf-buildpacks
type: MailingList
- url: https://slack.cncf.io
name: CNCF Slack (#buildpacks)
type: Forums
- url: https://github.com/buildpacks/community/discussions
type: Forums
- url: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/tagged/buildpack
name: Stack Overflow — buildpack tag
type: Forums
- type: Features
data:
- Buildpack API 0.12 — modular detect/build contract producing OCI layers without Dockerfiles
- Platform API 0.15 — lifecycle orchestration surface (analyze, detect, restore, extend, build, export, rebase, launch)
- Distribution API 0.3 — OCI-packaged buildpacks, extensions, and builders
- Image extensions — Dockerfile snippets applied by the `extender` for base-image customization
- Project Descriptor (project.toml) — declarative app-side build configuration
- Build plan with provides/requires reconciliation across composite (meta) buildpacks
- Per-layer caching with launch/build/cache types in `<layer>.toml`
- Rebase — swap run image base layers in seconds without rebuilding app layers
- Targets (os/arch/distros) replacing the legacy stacks model since Buildpack API 0.12
- Per-layer SBOM emission in CycloneDX, SPDX, and Syft formats; aggregated into io.buildpacks.build.metadata
- Standard OCI image labels (io.buildpacks.lifecycle.metadata, io.buildpacks.build.metadata, io.buildpacks.project.metadata,
io.buildpacks.rebasable)
- Reference lifecycle distributed as buildpacksio/lifecycle Docker image
- Reference CLI `pack` (v0.40.9, August 2026) implementing the Platform Interface Specification
- Public community registry at registry.buildpacks.io with `pack buildpack register/pull/yank`
- Language bindings via libcnb (Go) and libcnb.rs (Rust, maintained by Heroku at github.com/heroku/libcnb.rs)
- Kubernetes-native platform via kpack with Image/Builder/Stack CRDs
- CI integrations — GitHub Actions, CircleCI Orb, GitLab Auto DevOps, Tekton, Project Piper
- Multi-arch builders (linux/amd64, linux/arm64, windows) selected via target reconciliation
- Service Bindings extension aligned with the Service Binding Specification for Kubernetes
- Vendor-neutral CNCF Graduated project (accepted 2018-10-03, incubating 2020-11-18, graduated 2026-07-17) with public RFC
process
sources:
- https://buildpacks.io/
- https://buildpacks.io/docs/
- https://github.com/buildpacks/spec
- https://github.com/buildpacks/rfcs
- https://github.com/buildpacks/community
- https://www.cncf.io/projects/buildpacks/
updated: '2026-05-25'
- url: vocabulary/buildpacks-io-vocabulary.yml
type: Vocabulary
- url: rules/buildpacks-io-rules.yml
type: SpectralRules
- url: json-ld/buildpacks-io-context.jsonld
type: JSONLD
- url: packages/buildpacks-io-packages.yml
type: Packages
- url: packages/buildpacks-io-packages.yml
type: SDKs
- url: cli/buildpacks-io-cli.yml
type: CLI
- url: llms/buildpacks-io-llms.txt
type: LLMsTxt
- url: mcp/buildpacks-io-mcp.yml
type: X-MCPServerCandidate
name: Candidate MCP tool surface derived from the registry OpenAPIs — no server is deployed
- url: skills/_index.yml
type: AgentSkill
- url: conformance/buildpacks-io-conformance.yml
type: Conformance
- url: conformance/buildpacks-io-conformance.yml
type: Compliance
name: OpenSSF Best Practices (passing) and the CNCF-funded third-party security audit
- url: errors/buildpacks-io-problem-types.yml
type: ErrorCatalog
- url: lifecycle/buildpacks-io-lifecycle.yml
type: Lifecycle
- url: lifecycle/buildpacks-io-lifecycle.yml
type: Deprecation
name: Versioned Deprecations sections in the Buildpack and Platform specifications
- url: changelog/buildpacks-io-changelog.yml
type: ChangeLog
- url: authentication/buildpacks-io-authentication.yml
type: Authentication
- url: conventions/buildpacks-io-conventions.yml
type: Conventions
- url: data-model/buildpacks-io-data-model.yml
type: DataModel
- url: plans/buildpacks-io-plans-pricing.yml
type: Plans
- url: rate-limits/buildpacks-io-rate-limits.yml
type: RateLimits
- url: security/buildpacks-io-vulnerability-disclosure.yml
type: VulnerabilityDisclosure
- url: https://github.com/buildpacks/.github/blob/main/SECURITY.md
type: Security
name: Coordinated vulnerability disclosure policy
- url: well-known/buildpacks-io-well-known.yml
type: X-WellKnownProbe
name: Probe record — every named /.well-known/ path 404s on all three hosts
- url: https://github.com/buildpacks/registry-api
type: APIReference
name: Buildpack Registry API endpoint reference
- url: https://www.linuxfoundation.org/privacy/
type: PrivacyPolicy
name: Linux Foundation privacy policy (linked from the buildpacks.io footer)
- url: https://buildpacks.io/features
name: Features
type: Documentation
- url: https://buildpacks.io/history
name: Project history and CNCF graduation
type: Documentation
created: '2026-05-25'
modified: '2026-09-17'
position: Producing
tags:
- Cloud Native Buildpacks
- Container Images
- Build Automation
- CNCF
- Open Source
- Developer Tools
- OCI
- Specification
- Supply Chain
- Registry
tags_raw:
- Cloud Native Buildpacks
- Container Images
- Build Automation
- CNCF
- Open Source
- Developer Tools
- OCI
- Specifications
- Supply Chain
- Registry
- Open-Source
description: Cloud Native Buildpacks (CNB) is a CNCF Graduated project (graduated 2026-07-17) that transforms application
source code into OCI images that can run on any cloud. The v3 specification — Buildpack API 0.12, Platform API 0.15, and
Distribution API 0.3 — defines a modular, vendor-neutral contract between buildpacks, builders, lifecycles, and platforms.
CNB consolidates a decade of production experience from Heroku and Pivotal/Cloud Foundry and provides the reference lifecycle
(buildpacksio/lifecycle), the `pack` CLI, language bindings (libcnb in Go/Rust/.NET), the Kubernetes-native `kpack` platform,
the public community registry at registry.buildpacks.io, and an open RFC-driven governance model.
maintainers:
- FN: Kin Lane
email: info@apievangelist.com
X: apievangelist
url: https://apievangelist.com
specificationVersion: '0.23'
x-enrichment:
date: '2026-09-17'
status: enriched
artifacts_added: 21
pass: local-v3
Buildpacks Io API — frequently asked questions
Does Buildpacks Io have an API?
Yes. APIs.io lists 8 APIs from Buildpacks Io, including Buildpack Specification, Platform Specification and Distribution Specification, and 5 more.
Is there an OpenAPI specification for the Buildpacks Io API?
Yes. APIs.io indexes 2 OpenAPI specifications for Buildpacks Io, each linked for download from this page.
How do I authenticate with the Buildpacks Io API?
Buildpacks Io uses bearer-token authentication (0 schemes). The details are profiled on APIs.io as Buildpacks Io Authentication.
Is the Buildpacks Io API ready for AI agents?
Buildpacks Io has a Kin Score of 53.5 out of 100 (developing) and an Agent Readiness score of 30.5 (agent-ready), scored by API Evangelist on 2026-11-06.
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Kin Score
How this is scored →
It updates itself when the score changes. Paste this where you link to your API docs: