Platform engineering is challenging. Engineers must navigate a complex technology landscape, making crucial design and architectural decisions to build efficient internal developer platforms.
Platform engineering is a tough job. Engineers must navigate a vast technology landscape, making critical design and architectural decisions to build efficient internal developer platforms. Kratix, an open-source framework, simplifies this process by enhancing the platform-building experience and offering an API for platform capability ownership.
For organizations seeking even greater speed, security, efficiency, and scalability, Syntasso offers an enterprise solution that goes beyond Kratix—delivering advanced features, enterprise-grade support, and the ability to maintain a “thinnest viable platform” (as defined by Team Topologies) while maximizing the benefits of a well-structured internal platform.
Self-Service Platforms Require User-facing APIs
A great platform starts with an API. APIs enable self-service and on-demand access to platform capabilities, empowering users such as app developers to build and deploy faster. Kratix uses the widely adopted Kubernetes standard of OpenAPI v3 Custom Resource Definitions (CRDs) to define user-facing APIs for all platform services. This allows organisations to integrate Kratix seamlessly with modern developer portals like Backstage, Port, and even custom interfaces like chatbots or ticketing systems.
Simplifying Service Creation with Kratix Promises
Building services requires managing multiple layers, including the frontend API, backend dependencies, and the core business logic. Kratix introduces the concept of Promises to streamline both initial service creation and long-term lifecycle management across these layers. A Promise is an API for service builders, defining dependencies, workflows, and user contracts in a single package. By consolidating these elements into a version-controlled offering, Kratix reduces maintenance overhead while offering flexibility in implementation.
Transform Templates into Self-Service APIs: Embracing the Power of the Kratix CLI
Kratix makes it easy to convert existing services into on-demand, self-service capabilities. The process begins with identifying an automated solution that is a good candidate for self-service. Helm charts, Kubernetes operators, and Terraform Modules are good examples of existing automation that SKE can quickly transform into self-service APIs.
When you use the Kratix CLI to initialise a new Promise based on an existing Helm chart, the resulting Promise will define a user-facing API, generate the logic to transform a request into a running service, and even provide an example request to quickly explore the new Promise.
This bootstrapped Promise is just the start of a contract between users and the Helm chart owners. The real power is that the owners can now extend this contract to also include opinions and requirements that are not in the form of YAML templates from more teams, such as security and finance. For example, if pre-deployment application scanning becomes required, the security team would need to run a scan against the Helm template, which they can do with tools such as chekhov from within the Promise Workflows.
By updating the Promise, platform engineers can dynamically enforce security rules and communicate results to users. This approach ensures compliance while maintaining agility and dramatically reduces the cost to roll out the change since introducing such a change without SKE would require pull requests across many repositories and coordinating with many teams.
Scalable Platforms Require Platform Service APIs
One of Kratix’s biggest advantages is its ability to provide multiplayer mode, which reduces platform engineering bottlenecks and scales platform building. This is possible due to the unique Promise definition, which is an API for creating self-service and fleet-managed platform services.
Enabling a consistent and easy format for introducing new platform services removes the reliance on a single centralized group to extend the platform. Organisation-wide use of the Promise definition for a service empowers domain experts to create and manage their own services in the languages and tools they prefer without creating a sprawl of service patterns. This approach fosters innovation and efficiency while ensuring governance and consistency across the organization.
Get Started with Syntasso Kratix Enterprise
If you're looking for a solution that simplifies platform engineering, accelerates service creation, and enhances scalability, Kratix might be the right fit for you. Learn more at Syntasso.io or Kratix.io.
Ready to build better platforms that are faster, safer, and more scalable? Start exploring SKE today!
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