Knative

Knative is an open-source set of Kubernetes-native components that provide building blocks for creating, deploying, and managing serverless and event-driven workloads on Kubernetes. It simplifies the development and operation of modern containerized applications by offering features like rapid…

Key facts

First appeared
2018
Category
cloud_infrastructure
Problem solved
Knative was created to address the complexity and vendor lock-in associated with serverless applications. While Kubernetes provided a robust platform for container orchestration, it lacked native, opinionated abstractions for serverless patterns like automatic scale-to-zero, event-driven architecture, and simplified traffic management for application revisions. Knative aimed to fill this gap by providing a portable, open-source serverless layer on top of any Kubernetes cluster, enabling developers to run serverless workloads without being tied to a specific cloud provider's proprietary FaaS offering.
Platforms
Kubernetes (any cloud or on-premises)

Related technologies

Notable users

  • VMWare (Tanzu Application Platform)
  • IBM
  • Google (for Cloud Run)
  • Various enterprises utilizing private cloud-native platforms
  • Red Hat (OpenShift Serverless)