Track kube-bind sandbox application

[cnvergence]

This issue is to track the process of applying for CNCF Sandbox status for the kube-bind project.
We will need to fill this form
https://github.com/cncf/sandbox/issues/new?assignees=&labels=New&projects=&template=application.yml&title=%5BSandbox%5D+%3CProject+Name%3E

[cnvergence]

cc @olamilekan000, will sync with you on the next steps

[cnvergence]

CNCF Sandbox Application - Tracker

Status: Draft
Last Updated: 2026-03-05

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📋 Basic Project Information

Project Summary

kube-bind is an open source project that enables Kubernetes service providers and consumers in distinct clusters to share and bind custom API resources across cluster boundaries.

Project Description

kube-bind is an open source Kubernetes project that provides better support for service providers and consumers residing in distinct Kubernetes clusters. It introduces a binding mechanism that allows operators running in one cluster (the service provider) to offer custom APIs and controllers, while consumers in separate clusters can bind to those services and use the custom resources as if they were native to their own cluster.

The project solves a fundamental multi-tenancy and multi-cluster challenge: today, extending Kubernetes with custom controllers requires deploying the controller and its CRDs into the same cluster, making multi-cluster or SaaS-style service delivery difficult. kube-bind decouples the service provider's control plane from the consumer's cluster, allowing a single provider to serve many consumer clusters cleanly and securely.

kube-bind is built on top of standard Kubernetes primitives (CRDs, controllers, RBAC) and is designed to be cloud native from the ground up. It enables use cases such as managed database-as-a-service, managed Kafka, or any custom Kubernetes API offered as a service to multiple tenant clusters—without requiring those tenants to run the underlying controllers themselves.

kube-bind has a native, first-class integration with kcp via a dedicated kcp backend provider (contrib/kcp/). In this mode, kcp workspaces are treated as independent clusters, and kube-bind leverages kcp's APIExport/APIBinding primitives to expose and bind APIs across workspaces — enabling multi-tenant, SaaS-style API sharing with full workspace isolation and RBAC.

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📚 Project Details

Org Repo URL

https://github.com/kube-bind

Project Repo URL

https://github.com/kube-bind/kube-bind

Additional Repos in Scope

N/A

Website URL

https://kube-bind.io

Roadmap

https://github.com/kube-bind/kube-bind/blob/main/ROADMAP.md

Roadmap Context

N/A

Contributing Guide

https://github.com/kube-bind/kube-bind/blob/main/CONTRIBUTING.md

Code of Conduct (CoC)

https://github.com/kube-bind/kube-bind/blob/main/code-of-conduct.md

Adopters

https://github.com/kube-bind/kube-bind/blob/main/ADOPTERS.md

Maintainers File

https://github.com/kube-bind/kube-bind/blob/main/OWNERS

Security Policy File

https://github.com/kube-bind/kube-bind/blob/main/SECURITY.md

Standard or Specification?

N/A

Business Product or Service to Project Separation

Your answer here

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☁️ Cloud Native Context

Why CNCF?

kube-bind is a Kubernetes-native project addressing a core multi-cluster use case. Contributing it to the CNCF ensures neutral governance, broader community adoption, and alignment with the ecosystem of cloud native projects. CNCF membership provides access to infrastructure, marketing, security audits, and a community of practitioners who benefit most from this technology.

Benefit to the Landscape

kube-bind fills a gap in the CNCF landscape by providing a standardized, open mechanism for cross-cluster API and service binding. It enables a new class of multi-cluster SaaS-style Kubernetes service providers and enriches the multi-cluster story alongside projects like Cluster API, Open Cluster Management, and others.

Cloud Native 'Fit'

kube-bind is entirely Kubernetes-native: it is built using CRDs, controllers, and RBAC, and follows operator patterns. It is deployed as a Kubernetes controller/operator, uses kubeconfig-based authentication, and integrates naturally into any standard Kubernetes cluster. It fits within the "Orchestration & Management" layer of the CNCF landscape, specifically in the multi-cluster and service binding space.

Cloud Native 'Integration'

• Kubernetes: kube-bind is built directly on Kubernetes CRDs, controllers, and RBAC.
  - kcp (kcp-dev/kcp, CNCF Sandbox): kcp provides the multi-tenant control plane and workspace isolation layer; kube-bind provides the cross-workspace API service binding mechanism on top of it. The two projects are complementary — kube-bind is designed to work both with plain Kubernetes clusters and with kcp, gaining significantly more power in the latter case.
  It will complement many other projects, as for helping provider clusters to serve anything as a service to the consumer clusters, here are some examples with Crossplane, cert-manager and kro - https://docs.kube-bind.io/main/usage/integrations/cert-manager/

Cloud Native Overlap

Similar Projects

Landscape

Not currently listed.

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📘 CNCF Policies

Trademark and Accounts

• If the project is accepted, I agree to donate all project trademarks and accounts to the CNCF

IP Policy

• If the project is accepted, I agree the project will follow the CNCF IP Policy

License Exception

No – kube-bind is licensed under the Apache License 2.0.

Project "Domain Technical Review"

Your answer here

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✉️ Contact Information

Application Contact Email(s)

karol.szwaj@gmail.com
mangirdas@judeikis.lt

Contributing or Sponsoring Entity Signatory Information

If an organization:

Name	Signatory name	Email address

If a group of individuals:

Name	Email address

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➕ Additional Information

CNCF Contacts

Mario Fahlandt (@mfahlandt) TAG Operational Resilience Chair - mfahlandt@pixel-haufen.de

Additional Information

Your answer here

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Internal Notes

• All required fields completed
• Links verified
• Reviewed by team
• Ready to submit

[mjudeikis]

TODO:
Review tech
Contributing orgs

[cnvergence]

Application was sent here: cncf/sandbox#464

[xrstf]

What's the state here? The last update on the ticket above is 2 months old by now.

[cnvergence]

Vote has passed, but we are still waiting for Contributor Agreement

[cnvergence]

Application got updated, CLA will be signed
Onboarding checklist can be found here cncf/sandbox#496

[cnvergence]

Welcome to CNCF Project Onboarding

This is an issue created to help onboard your project into the CNCF after the TOC has voted to accept your project.

We would like your project to complete onboarding within one month of acceptance.

Please track your progress by using "Quote reply" to create your own copy of this checklist in the issue, so that you can update the status as you finish items.

REQUIRED BEFORE PROCEEDING WITH ONBOARDING

A "Project Contribution Agreement" must be completed and any existing trademarks MUST be transferred to the Linux Foundation BEFORE the CNCF staff onboarding tasks can be completed. Other tasks can be done by projects themselves in the meantime.

• Review and understand the CNCF IP Policy. Ensure you are using a CNCF compatible license; inbound projects must use the Apache 2.0 license. Licenses for dependencies are covered separately below.
• Review and understand the CNCF Third Party License Policy. This policy governs the licenses used by third party libraries in your project. CNCF FOSSA or CNCF Snyk are configured to check that projects are in compliance with this policy. Let us know which service you would prefer to use.
• Review and understand the LF trademark guidelines. Let the TOC know if you plan to change your project name.
• Transfer any trademark and logo assets to the Linux Foundation via the Contribution Agreement. CNCF staff will send this document to the contact emails listed in the Sandbox application.

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Review and understand other documents

• The Technical Leadership Principles that outline the expected behavior for any maintainer in a leadership role.
• The project proposal process and requirements.
• The services available for your project at the CNCF.
• The online program guidelines.
• The telemetry data collection and usage policy.
• Optional: Book time with CNCF staff to understand CNCF resources available to you, to work through onboarding tasks together, or ask other questions.

Contribute and transfer other materials

• Move your project to its own separate neutral GitHub organization. This will make it transferable to the CNCF's GitHub Enterprise account. If it's already in another GHE account, you will need to remove it from that first.
• Accept the invite to join the CNCF GitHub Enterprise account. We'll then add thelinuxfoundation as an organization owner to ensure neutral hosting of your project.
• Migrate your Slack channels (if any) to the Kubernetes or CNCF Slack workspace. CNCF staff can help. This allows project communities to be more discoverable, allows the CNCF to enforce its Code of Conduct, and enables unlimited message retention. If you already have a large Slack or Discord community, we may also be able to link to that from a pointer channel in the CNCF Slack workspace.
• Join the #maintainers-circle Slack channel to find and share knowledge with other project teams.
• Transfer your domain(s) to the CNCF if they exist. The "LF Contact" is projects@cncf.io. The "Project Selection" is CNCF.
• Submit a pull request with your artwork if it exists. If you don't have artwork, CNCF can help design some.
• Transfer website analytics if they exist. Make projects@cncf.io an admin of your existing Google Analytics org account so that we can move it to a CNCF-managed account.

Update and document project details

• Create or ensure your .project repo is up to date with maintainer information.
• Ensure each maintainer has an up-to-date LFX Individual Dashboard profile that includes an active email address in order to get access to the mailing list and Service Desk.
• Ensure the DCO app is enabled for all GitHub repositories of the project. You may also choose to use a CLA in addition to the DCO.
• Ensure that the CNCF Code of Conduct (or your adopted version of it) are explicitly referenced in the project's README.md on GitHub.
• Ensure the LF footer is on your website and guidelines are followed (if your project doesn't have a dedicated website, please adopt those guidelines for the README.md file).
• Start working on written, open governance and consider adding this to a GOVERNANCE.md file at the root of your repo.
• Start working on a security policy and consider adding this to a SECURITY.md file at the root of your repo.
• Start working on an OpenSSF Best Practices Badge.
• Import all project repos into your chosen license scanning service (CNCF FOSSA or CNCF Snyk).

CNCF staff tasks to support the project

• Add the project to DevStats.
• Add the project to CLOmonitor.
• Add the project to LFX Insights.
• Activate the project in the LFX Project Control Center.
• Add the project to the Cloud Native Landscape after PCC activation, including the lfx_slug in the landscape configuration file.
• Add the maintainers team to a license scanner service, either, CNCF FOSSA or CNCF Snyk.
• Create groups.io project maintainer list in PCC.
• Add project's groups.io maintainer list to maintainers@cncf.io
• Send a welcome email to confirm maintainer list access.

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Related Issue: This onboarding issue was automatically created after the community vote was completed in issue #464.