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
accessModel:
  pricing: unknown
  onboarding: unknown
  trial: false
  try_now: false
  public: false
  label: Unknown
  confidence: low
  source: []
  generated: '2026-07-22'
  method: derived
image: https://kinlane-images.s3.amazonaws.com/shared/apis-json/icons/cloud-native-buildpacks.png
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-images.s3.amazonaws.com/shared/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-images.s3.amazonaws.com/shared/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-images.s3.amazonaws.com/shared/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-images.s3.amazonaws.com/shared/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-images.s3.amazonaws.com/shared/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-images.s3.amazonaws.com/shared/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-images.s3.amazonaws.com/shared/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: DomainSecurity
  url: security/cloud-native-buildpacks-domain-security.yml
- 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
maintainers:
- FN: Kin Lane
  email: kinlane@gmail.com