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Tekton

Tekton — Kubernetes-native CI/CD pipeline framework.

DevOpsComplex

Stack Components

FrameworkTekton Pipelines
PlatformKubernetes

Why

Declarative pipelines as CRDs, reusable tasks, cloud-native and decoupled. Docker is used by 59% of professional developers per the Stack Overflow 2024 survey, and Terraform is used by 65% of organizations for IaC (HashiCorp 2024).

GitOps (ArgoCD, Flux) reduces deployment drift to near-zero by making git the single source of truth.

When

Use for K8s-native CI/CD. Avoid for teams without K8s expertise.

How

1. Install Tekton on K8s 2. Define Tasks and Pipelines 3. Create PipelineRun 4. Monitor with tkn CLI

Example

apiVersion: tekton.dev/v1 kind: Task metadata: { name: build } spec: steps: - name: build image: node:20 script: npm run build

Common Problems

  • ⚠PipelineRun stuck — check Pod events and PVC access
  • ⚠Task image pull errors — verify image and registry access
  • ⚠Configuration drift between environments — use infrastructure-as-code (Terraform/Pulumi) to keep dev/staging/prod identical

Best Practices

  • ✓Use Tekton Catalog for reusable tasks
  • ✓Store results in workspaces for pipeline chaining
  • ✓Set up health checks and graceful shutdown — handle SIGTERM to drain in-flight requests before exit

FAQ

What is Tekton and what projects is it for?

Tekton — Kubernetes-native CI/CD pipeline framework. It pairs layered technologies for end-to-end type safety and out-of-the-box deploys, fitting everything from MVPs to production SaaS.

How do I spin up a working demo with Tekton in 10 minutes?

Two steps: (1) Install Tekton on K8s; (2) Define Tasks and Pipelines. Get the local dev server running, then wire one real data source to verify the end-to-end loop.

What is the most common pitfall with Tekton and how do I avoid it?

The most common pitfall is: PipelineRun stuck — check Pod events and PVC access. Avoid it by adding the matching checklist to your PR template and running type-check + lint + unit tests in CI — three gates before merge.

What are the best practices for Tekton?

Best practices for Tekton include: Use Tekton Catalog for reusable tasks; Store results in workspaces for pipeline chaining; Set up health checks and graceful shutdown — handle SIGTERM to drain in-flight requests before exit. The first one — "Use Tekton Catalog for reusable tasks" — should be set up at project init to avoid costly rework later.

When should I NOT choose Tekton?

Pick something else in three cases: (1) the team has zero experience with the core framework and the deadline is tight (learning-curve risk); (2) it's a pure content/marketing site (Astro is lighter); (3) you need very high throughput (>10k RPS) or strict-consistency microservices (Go/Rust). Tekton shines for mid-to-high complexity full-stack and API work — don't over-engineer simple static pages with it.