Introduction
Crossplane is an open-source infrastructure orchestration engine that enables platform teams to define, compose, and provision infrastructure using Kubernetes APIs—turning Kubernetes itself into a control plane for managing both cloud services and application infrastructure.
Crossplane brings Infrastructure as Code and Platform as a Service closer together by allowing teams to expose curated infrastructure abstractions (e.g., databases, message queues, cloud resources) as custom Kubernetes resources. At Cake, Crossplane is a key component of the internal platform strategy, empowering developers to provision infrastructure safely and autonomously—without leaving the Kubernetes ecosystem.
The Cake platform’s uses for Crossplane include:
Kubernetes-Native API for Infrastructure: Enables cloud resources (e.g., AWS RDS, S3, GCP Pub/Sub) to be declared and managed like any other Kubernetes object, using native YAML.
Composable Infrastructure Abstractions: Allows platform teams to define reusable, opinionated “XRs” (Composite Resources) and “Compositions” that encapsulate policies, defaults, and best practices.
Multi-Cloud Provider Support: Offers consistent workflows across cloud vendors (AWS, GCP, Azure, and more), simplifying multi-cloud operations and reducing vendor lock-in.
GitOps and Declarative Integration: Seamlessly integrates with GitOps tools and Kubernetes-native CI/CD systems like Argo CD and Flux for declarative, versioned infrastructure delivery.
Self-Service Infrastructure for Developers: Empowers Cake engineers to request infrastructure resources via familiar Kubernetes tooling (e.g.,
kubectl, Helm, GitOps), while platform teams retain control over policies and guardrails.
Within the Cake platform, Crossplane is used to manage the lifecycle of critical infrastructure components—including databases, cache layers, storage buckets, and service accounts—through a secure and auditable interface. It bridges the gap between application deployment and cloud infrastructure provisioning, aligning with Cake’s goals of velocity, consistency, and autonomy.
By adopting Crossplane, Cake delivers infrastructure as APIs, enabling platform teams to encode their expertise into reusable building blocks—while empowering developers with the speed and safety of self-service provisioning.