Skaffold is a command line tool for continuous development of Kubernetes applications, aimed at developers who iterate on source code locally and deploy it to local or remote Kubernetes clusters.
What it is
Skaffold is a Go command line tool, released under the Apache-2.0 licence, that manages the workflow for building, pushing and deploying an application to Kubernetes. It watches your source code, detects changes, and runs the pipeline to build the image, push it and redeploy it, while also providing building blocks and customisations for a CI/CD pipeline. Its configuration is declarative and pluggable, so a project's build and deploy steps can be described in a config file that skaffold init can generate by discovering your existing files.
The problem it addresses is the repetitive manual loop of Kubernetes development: after every edit you would otherwise rebuild your container image, push it, and reapply manifests yourself, then dig through pods for output. Skaffold automates that source-to-deploy path with policy-based image tagging, aggregates logs from deployed resources, and forwards container ports to your local machine so feedback arrives continuously. Because it is client-side only, with no cluster-side component, it adds no agent to install or maintain on the cluster.
Key capabilities
- Detects changes in source code and automatically runs the pipeline to build, push and deploy the application, with policy-based image tagging.
- Aggregates logs from deployed resources and forwards container ports to your local machine for continuous feedback.
skaffold run executes the pipeline end-to-end, while individual Skaffold phases can be used separately as CI/CD building blocks; skaffold render outputs hydrated Kubernetes manifests for GitOps workflows.skaffold init discovers your files and generates Skaffold's own configuration file.- Profiles, user level configuration, environment variables and flags provide context-aware differences between environments.
- A pluggable architecture lets you bring your own build or deploy tools, and multi-component applications consisting of several components are supported.
- Projects are portable so that another developer can
git clone and run skaffold run.
Who uses it and how
- Developers iterating on application source code locally before deploying to a local or remote Kubernetes cluster.
- Teams sharing a project with other developers through the
git clone and skaffold run workflow.
- Practitioners building a CI/CD pipeline out of individual Skaffold phases rather than a single end-to-end run.
- GitOps workflows that consume the hydrated Kubernetes manifests emitted by
skaffold render.
- Users of Visual Studio Code or JetBrains IDEs who install the Google
Cloud Code extensions for a guided startup experience and for managing Skaffold and its dependencies, on any Kubernetes cluster.
Getting started
Install Skaffold from the install guide at https://skaffold.dev/docs/install/, or download a specific version from the project's GitHub Releases page.
How it compares
The project documentation names no comparable third-party tools; the Google Cloud Code extensions it describes are integrations that manage and keep Skaffold up to date rather than alternatives to it. Skaffold therefore stands alone in this registry.
When to use it — and when not to
Because Skaffold is client-side only with no cluster-side component, a self-hoster needs to supply the Kubernetes cluster and a container registry to push images to, but no additional database, storage or SMTP service is introduced by Skaffold itself. It is less suitable if you want a server-side component or a managed pipeline rather than a command line tool, and the repository's 914 open issues suggest that coverage of edge cases and long-tail requests is still a work in progress despite the project being described as generally available and production ready.
project readme (upstream, from github) — read inline
Skaffold is a command line tool that facilitates continuous development for
Kubernetes applications. You can iterate on your application source code
locally then deploy to local or remote Kubernetes clusters. Skaffold handles
the workflow for building, pushing and deploying your application. It also
provides building blocks and describe customizations for a CI/CD pipeline.
Or, check out our Github Releases page for release info or to install a specific version.
Features
- Blazing fast local development
- optimized source-to-deploy - Skaffold detects changes in your source code and handles the pipeline to
build, push, and deploy your application automatically with policy based image tagging
- continuous feedback - Skaffold automatically aggregates logs from deployed resources and forwards container ports to your local machine
- Project portability
- share with other developers - Skaffold is the easiest way to share your project with the world:
git clone and skaffold run
- context aware - use Skaffold profiles, user level config, environment variables and flags to describe differences in environments
- CI/CD building blocks - use
skaffold run end-to-end, or use individual Skaffold phases to build up your CI/CD pipeline. skaffold render outputs hydrated Kubernetes manifests that can be used in GitOps workflows.
- Pluggable, declarative configuration for your project
- skaffold init - Skaffold discovers your files and generates its own config file
- multi-component apps - Skaffold supports applications consisting of multiple components
- bring your own tools - Skaffold has a pluggable architecture to integrate with any build or deploy tool
- Lightweight
- client-side only - Skaffold has no cluster-side component, so there is no overhead or maintenance burden
- minimal pipeline - Skaffold provides an opinionated, minimal pipeline to keep things simple
Check out our examples page for more complex workflows!
IDE integrations
For a managed experience of Skaffold you can install the Google Cloud Code extensions:
It can manage and keep Skaffold up-to-date while providing a more guided startup experience, along with providing and managing other common dependencies, and works with any kubernetes cluster.
Contributing to Skaffold
We welcome any contributions from the community with open arms - Skaffold wouldn't be where it is today without contributions from the community! Have a look at our contribution guide for more information on how to get started on sending your first PR.
Community
Support
Skaffold is generally available and considered production ready.
Detailed feature maturity information and how we deprecate features are described in our Deprecation Policy.
Security Disclosures
Please see our security disclosure process. All security advisories are managed on Github.