About
This is for anyone.
The vision
Section titled “The vision”native.cloud is a shared set of keys for labelling, annotating, and describing cloud native resources. When teams and tools use the same name for the same idea, a policy, dashboard, or script written for one cluster works on the next.
Today, each team picks its own naming conventions (or “ontology”), and each tool expects its own metadata format. For organizations to maintain consistency at scale, sharing semantics makes it easier for teams to collaborate and automate.
What we provide
Section titled “What we provide”Based on an idea formed in 2020, and live since 2026, native.cloud is about helping
people share common definitions for metadata across cloud native platforms and tools.
This site defines a curated set of keys that can be used in various contexts, which include:
- Annotations - For storing arbitrary metadata
- Labels - For identifying and selecting Kubernetes objects
- Taints - For controlling pod scheduling
Each key definition includes an explanation to help you use it correctly. Where it’s relevant, there are also validation rules or example values.
Completely optional
Section titled “Completely optional”Is this going to be more work for my team?
It really doesn’t have to be.
native.cloud is a voluntary standard; it can live alongside other standards and doesn’t aim to be the standard to replace/consolidate all others (obligatory xkcd 927).
We have some specific advice to ease adoption.
If you’ve been asked by a boss or team lead to “just implement native.cloud ontology”, and you haven’t found any keys that are useful to you, please raise an RFC.
About ControlPlane
Section titled “About ControlPlane”ControlPlane, the sponsor behind native.cloud, offers expert cloud native security and scaling services for strategic solutions and sustainable growth.