📋 CNCF Incubation Readiness Tracker

[clubanderson]

Overview

Track all gaps and actions needed for KubeStellar Console to meet CNCF incubation requirements. Console is a sub-project of KubeStellar (CNCF Sandbox).

Completed

• ROADMAP.md — Public roadmap with near/mid/long-term plans and non-goals (🌱 CNCF incubation readiness: governance docs, security self-assessment, roadmap #4069)
• docs/ARCHITECTURE.md — System diagram, components, data flows, security model (🌱 CNCF incubation readiness: governance docs, security self-assessment, roadmap #4069)
• docs/SUPPORT.md — Version support policy, security patch timelines (🌱 CNCF incubation readiness: governance docs, security self-assessment, roadmap #4069)
• docs/COMMUNITY.md — Communication channels, meeting schedule (🌱 CNCF incubation readiness: governance docs, security self-assessment, roadmap #4069)
• docs/security/SELF-ASSESSMENT.md — TAG-Security self-assessment template (🌱 CNCF incubation readiness: governance docs, security self-assessment, roadmap #4069)
• OpenSSF Best Practices Badge — Silver — Upgraded from Passing to Silver level (100% score) (project 12343)
• OpenSSF Scorecard badge — Added to README (🌱 CNCF incubation readiness: governance docs, security self-assessment, roadmap #4069)
• Maintainer expansion — 4 maintainers from 3 organizations:
  • Andy Anderson (@clubanderson) — IBM
  • Mike Spreitzer (@MikeSpreitzer) — IBM
  • Eeshaan Sawant (@eeshaanSA) — ONLYOFFICE (🌱 Add eeshaanSA as maintainer and security contact #4334)
  • Nupur Shivani (@nupurshivani) — Innovaccer (new)
• SECURITY_CONTACTS — Updated to include all maintainers
• Auto-QA governance check — ROADMAP.md freshness + governance file validation (🌱 CNCF incubation readiness: governance docs, security self-assessment, roadmap #4069)
• TAG-Security engagement — Self-assessment submitted to TAG-Security (cncf/toc#2106). Live demo given to TAG-Security & Compliance on 2026-04-08 — reviewers have the self-assessment and saw Console in action.
• Code coverage — 91% lines — Highest of any tracked CNCF project (Sandbox, Incubating, or Graduated). Exceeds OpenSSF Gold threshold (90% statements + 80% branches). PR: test: increase code coverage from 84% to 91% #5604
• Console Studio — Visual dashboard builder with AI card generation, YAML import/export, and collection management (🚧 DO NOT MERGE: Dashboard Studio: unified customization panel #4365)
• Mission Control — Guided CNCF project deployment with Flight Plan blueprint and phased launch
• Marketplace — Community card preset marketplace with 45+ CNCF project templates
• 160+ dashboard cards — Covering CNCF ecosystem (Helm, ArgoCD, OPA, Kyverno, Falco, Trivy, VCluster, KubeVirt, Crossplane, Buildpacks, GPU monitoring, and more)
• Benchmark streaming — Real-time vLLM/llm-d performance data via Google Drive with hardware leaderboards
• Nightly + weekly automated releases — Helm OCI chart publishing, nightly E2E testing
• Comprehensive CI/CD — 12-shard hourly coverage, 4x daily QA, nightly E2E, nightly security scanning, CodeQL, Copilot code review, visual regression
• Vendor neutrality — Maintainers from 3 independent organizations (IBM, ONLYOFFICE, Innovaccer)
• i18n infrastructure — Localization framework in place, hardcoded strings being eliminated

Remaining

High Priority

• Strengthen ADOPTERS.md — Need ≥3 independent organizations actually using Console in production or dev/test. CNCF outreach campaign is active — GA4 tracking shows engagement. Need to convert interest into formal adopter commitments.

Medium Priority

• TAG-Security review — approved by JustinCappos — Live demo given 2026-04-08. JustinCappos (TAG-Security lead) approved cncf/toc#2106 on 2026-04-10. Awaiting brandtkeller review on cncf/toc#2106

Low Priority

• Adoption metrics — Document GA4 usage data, active installs, cluster connections as evidence for due diligence
• Case studies — Solicit adopter testimonials from CNCF outreach campaign respondents

CNCF Incubation Criteria Reference

Criterion	Status	Notes
≥3 independent adopters	⚠️ Need formal adopters	Outreach campaign active
Maintainers from ≥2 orgs	✅ 4 maintainers from 3 orgs	IBM, ONLYOFFICE, Innovaccer
OpenSSF Best Practices Badge	✅ Silver (100%)	Upgraded from Passing
Security self-assessment	✅ Approved by JustinCappos (2026-04-10)	cncf/toc#2106
Public roadmap	✅ ROADMAP.md	Near/mid/long-term + non-goals
Governance docs	✅ Complete	GOVERNANCE.md, OWNERS, CONTRIBUTING.md
Release process	✅ Nightly/weekly/production	Helm OCI, automated CI/CD
Documentation	✅ Architecture, support, community	docs.kubestellar.io
Vendor neutrality	✅ 3 organizations	IBM, ONLYOFFICE, Innovaccer
TAG engagement	✅ Self-assessment filed	Review in progress
TOC sponsor	✅ Assigned by TOC	Not an applicant action
Code coverage	✅ 91% lines	#1 among all tracked CNCF projects
Security scanning	✅ Nightly CodeQL + Scorecard	Automated vulnerability detection

Coverage Benchmarks vs CNCF Projects

Project	CNCF Level	Coverage
KubeStellar Console	Sandbox	91.2%
TiKV	Graduated	89.5%
OpenTelemetry Go	Graduated	82.1%
Istio	Graduated	76.8%
Backstage	Incubating	72.0%
KubeVela	Sandbox	71.1%
etcd	Graduated	68.3%
Argo CD	Graduated	63.4%

Short-Term Goals (Q2 2026)

• Secure ≥3 formal adopters through outreach campaign

• Complete TAG-Security review on 📖 Add KubeStellar Console security self-assessment cncf/toc#2106

• OpenSSF Gold badge — Not feasible: Gold requires multiple human reviewers on every PR, which is impractical for a small maintainer team. Silver (100%) is the ceiling.

Near-Term Goals (Q3 2026)

• Accessibility audit and remediation

Long-Term Goals (Q4 2026+)

• File formal CNCF incubation application
• Multi-tenant RBAC for shared Console instances
• Plugin architecture for third-party card/mission development
• Helm operator for fleet-wide Console deployment
• GitOps integration (Flux + Argo CD)

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Last updated: 2026-04-08

[clubanderson]

Maintainer expansion update

Added Eeshaan Sawant (LinkedIn) as maintainer, approver, reviewer, and security contact in PR #4334.

Files updated:

• OWNERS — added eeshaanSA to approvers and reviewers
• SECURITY_CONTACTS — added eeshaanSA

This brings the maintainer count to 3 from ≥2 organizations, satisfying the CNCF incubation criterion for maintainer diversity.