# The Update Framework (TUF)

**Canonical:** https://apis.io/providers/tuf/  
**Website:** https://theupdateframework.io/  
**APIs profiled:** 7

TUF (The Update Framework) is a CNCF graduated framework for securing software update systems. It provides a specification for how software repositories should be structured and how clients should verify updates to protect against key compromise, rollback attacks, and mix-and-match attacks. TUF is used by many package managers and update systems including PyPI, Sigstore, and various Linux distributions. The framework defines a four-role metadata structure (root, targets, snapshot, timestamp) with threshold signing and delegation capabilities for scalable trust management.

## Kin Score — 26.0 / 100 (emerging)

Scored 2026-08-25 under rubric 0.14.0. Trend: flat (+0.0 from 26.0).

| Facet | Score |
|---|---|
| Discoverability | 72.2 |
| Contract Quality | 24.0 |
| Governance | 25.0 |
| Contract Governance | 25.0 |
| Operational Transparency | 10.5 |
| Developer Ergonomics | 26.2 |
| Commercial Clarity | 15.8 |
| Access Clarity | 15.8 |

## Agent readiness — 2.5 (human-only)

| Dimension | Value |
|---|---|
| Spec Presence | no |
| Agentic Access | no |
| Reversibility Documented | no |
| MCP Server | no |
| Auth Clarity | no |
| Idempotency | no |
| Error Semantics | no |
| OpenAPI Examples | no |
| Rate Limit Signal | documented |
| Event Surface Described | no |
| Agent Skills | no |
| Well Known Catalog | no |
| Consent Identity | no |
| Agent Card | no |
| Dry Run Mode | no |
| Delegated Identity | no |
| Protected Resource Metadata | no |
| Dynamic Client Registration | no |
| Agentic Commerce | no |

## Access

Freemium — onboarding: unknown, pricing: freemium, trial: no (confidence: medium).

## APIs (7)

- **TUF Repository Specification** — The TUF specification defines the structure of update repositories including the root, targets, snapshot, and timestamp metadata files. Each metadata file has a defined schema w...
- **TUF Python Reference Implementation** — The official Python reference implementation of The Update Framework (TUF) specification. Provides a metadata API for reading and writing TUF metadata files, an ngclient API imp...
- **TUF Go Implementation** — A Go implementation of The Update Framework (TUF), heavily influenced by python-tuf's design. Provides metadata, TrustedMetadata, and Updater packages implementing the TUF clien...
- **TUF Rust Implementation** — A Rust implementation of The Update Framework (TUF) specification providing a strongly-typed API for working with TUF metadata, verifying signatures, and implementing the TUF cl...
- **TUF JavaScript Implementation** — A JavaScript/TypeScript implementation of The Update Framework (TUF) for use in Node.js environments and browser-based update systems. Enables TUF-compliant software update veri...
- **TUF on CI** — A TUF repository management and signing tool designed for use in CI/CD pipelines. Enables teams to maintain a TUF repository using GitHub Actions and other CI systems for automa...
- **TUF Conformance Test Suite** — The official TUF client conformance test suite for verifying that TUF client implementations correctly implement the TUF specification, including proper handling of all attack v...

## Security (1)

- **Tuf Domain Security** — TLSv1.3 · HSTS

## Plans (1)

- **Tuf Plans Pricing**

## Tags

CNCF, Cloud-Native, Graduated, Security, Software Supply Chain, Software Updates, Verification

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Profiled by [API Evangelist](https://apievangelist.com) and published on [APIs.io](https://apis.io/providers/tuf/). Scores are computed from the provider's own public artifacts under a published rubric.