Built from first principles for production Kubernetes.
Why we replaced layers of YAML templates, overlays, and policy engines with a single cluster compiler.
Why we built Kix
Our team managed Kubernetes with YAML. We added templates, overlays, controllers to sync changes from Git, and policies to catch mistakes. Each tool addressed a real need, but together they made the whole system substantially more complex. We wanted to go back to first principles and see what would happen if we described the cluster as a whole.
Layers of tooling added on top of Kubernetes YAML
- 05 policy engines that check YAML afterwards
- 04 controllers that sync YAML from git
- 03 overlays that patch YAML
- 02 templates that generate YAML
- 01 YAML
- Kubernetes resources
What we considered
We considered describing Kubernetes with a general-purpose language, but couldn’t see a clean way to express the cluster as a whole.
What changed
As agents began writing more infrastructure code, the need for precise error messages grew. Whether a person or an agent makes a change, they need to know which resource is wrong and why.
What we built
So we built Kix as a compiler for the whole cluster definition. It can check the resources together, work out their dependencies, and use that information to plan and carry out a deployment.
Built from experience running clusters.
Kix is built by engineers who have spent years operating production Kubernetes and bare-metal infrastructure.
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Luca Dombetzki
Built TUM.ai, Europe's largest AI student initiative. Now post-training foundation models in stealth, with agents running the show.
LinkedIn -
Questions before you try Kix
Kix produces standard Kubernetes resources, and the CLI fits into an existing workflow. These are the details people usually ask about before trying it.
- Is it still standard Kubernetes underneath?
- Yes. Kix produces ordinary Kubernetes resources that kubectl, dashboards, operators, and security tools can inspect.
- What if you stop using Kix?
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kix exportwrites the cluster as plain Kubernetes YAML. If you stop using Kix, you can keep managing those resources with standard Kubernetes tools. - Can Kix use existing Helm charts?
- Yes. You can use existing Helm charts with Kix, although they do not provide every benefit of a native Kix package.
- What if Kix doesn't model something I need?
- Define any Kubernetes resource or field directly in the cluster definition.
- Does anything need to run in my cluster?
- Nothing runs in the cluster: the CLI deploys from your laptop or CI. Kix adds two CRDs and records each deploy, with its receipt, as an Activation resource.
- Does Kix block insecure configs?
- Security checks run on every build. Scorecard findings are warnings by default; choose which rules fail the build.
- Which packages exist?
- The library covers databases, observability, networking, and applications, with more added regularly. Browse the Packages page →