The 7 Platform Engineering Tools you need to know

Platform engineering teams use introduce tools to automate tasks and manage infrastructure. These tools boost teamwork and make the development process smoother and quicker.

Each organization has its own toolset. These span different categories like Infrastructure as Code (IaC), CI/CD, monitoring, and security.

The platform engineering team selects the best tools. These are then gathered in an Internal Developer Platform or portal. Here, all the tools and frameworks are listed. 

These tools streamline workflows and speed up the development cycle. They also ensure high-quality software solutions are delivered. With these tools, developers can focus on coding and creating new features. The tools handle tasks like building, testing, deploying, and monitoring applications.

Let's take a look at seven platform engineering tools. These can help you boost developer experience.

Platform Engineering tools reviewed:

Kubernetes

Kubiya.ai

Docker

Terraform

ArgoCD

Gitlab

Backstage by Spotify

Crossplane

Kubernetes

Kubernetes powers up the developer experience. It's a strong platform for container orchestration. It also supports platform engineering teams. Kubernetes simplifies infrastructure management. This allows developers to code more and worry less about infrastructure.

With Kubernetes, deploying, scaling, and managing applications becomes easy. It also ensures consistency across different environments. It boosts productivity and quickens iteration and experimentation.

Kubernetes brings a rich ecosystem of tools and services. These include service discovery, load balancing, and logging. This further eases application development and deployment. 

For platform engineering teams, Kubernetes offers centralized control. It gives a clear view over the entire infrastructure. This makes managing multiple applications and services easier. It allows for efficient resource allocation and guarantees high availability. Plus, it scales easily.

Kubernetes supports declarative configuration. It also allows for infrastructure-as-code practices. Teams can define and manage infrastructure in a version-controlled way. Kubernetes improves the developer experience by simplifying infrastructure. It also enables teams to manage and scale applications efficiently.

In conclusion, Kubernetes is a game-changer because it simplifies infrastructure management and boosts developer productivity. However, its complexity and steep learning curve can pose challenges for teams new to container orchestration.

Kubiya.ai

Kubiya simplifies developer workflows and automates repetitive and mundane tasks so your developers can focus on writing code instead of worrying about the underlying infrastructure. Being language- and cloud-agnostic, developers use Kubiya as the only AI tool to streamline their software development workflows. It acts as your virtual assistant, providing Devs with self-serve access to DevOps workflows and automation directly from Slack.

Using AI you can create any DevOps workflow in seconds instead of asking your Ops and SysAdmins to provide access. Thus, Kubiya dramatically reduces the time it takes for a developer to build a workflow from scratch. With its user-centric design and powerful features, Kubiya revolutionizes developer experience and drives excellence within platform engineering teams.

Docker

Docker is a vital tool for developers and platform engineering teams. It simplifies the development process and makes application deployment easier. Docker packs applications and dependencies into portable containers for consistency across environments. It promotes team collaboration and eases the onboarding of new members.

Docker speeds up iteration, testing, and debugging of applications. It offers a standard deployment mechanism, enabling easy scaling with tools like Kubernetes. This reduces infrastructure management complexity and improves resource utilization.

In short, Docker enhances productivity and accelerates software development. However, its complex configuration can be daunting for beginners.

Terraform

Terraform is a popular cloud-native tool in the software industry. It's an infrastructure as code (IaC) tool. It lightens the load for developers by using a declarative approach. Developers can define their infrastructure, control versions of their infrastructure code, and align it with their application code. 

Terraform simplifies environment creation and removal, for development, staging, and production. This reduces time and effort for infrastructure management. It increases developer productivity and confidence. It is a top consideration for platform engineering toolsets in any organization.

Terraform supports multiple cloud providers and infrastructure technologies. This makes it ideal for teams managing complex environments. They can use Terraform consistently across various cloud platforms and on-premises systems. This streamlines operations and eases infrastructure resource management and scaling.

In conclusion, Terraform is highly beneficial for its seamless interoperability across multiple cloud platforms, aiding teams in maintaining consistent infrastructure practices. However, a potential downside is its occasional lack of support for the latest features from individual cloud providers due to its wide-ranging compatibility focus.

ArgoCD

The software development and deployment landscape is changing. Long software delivery times are now a thing of the past, replaced by 'GitOps'. This new approach uses 'Git' as the single source of truth, storing config files, manifest files, and artifacts in a Git repository.

An agent monitors the desired state in your Git repo and the actual state in your target environment. If there's a mismatch, the agent automatically synchronizes both states.

ArgoCD supports GitOps, making it popular. It offers both a CLI and UI, providing a unique view of software delivery. It's an excellent platform engineering tool that enhances developer experience by reducing the time required to build a CI/CD pipeline.

In conclusion, ArgoCD's unique visualization of GitOps processes and automation capabilities make it a compelling choice for modern software development. However, its focus on Git repositories as a single source of truth could be limiting for teams not fully integrated with Git-based workflows. 

GitLab

GitLab stands out in platform engineering. It covers everything from source control management to software delivery, catering to developer needs.

GitLab is a unified DevOps platform. It provides a single view of CI/CD workflows and more. It enhances collaboration, speeds up iteration, and boosts software quality. GitLab's version control system tracks code changes efficiently, streamlining code reviews and collaboration. Its built-in CI/CD capabilities automate software releases, saving time and effort on deployments.

Furthermore, GitLab integrates with many development tools. This makes it easier for developers to work with their chosen technologies. This inclusive approach lets developers focus on coding, boosting their productivity and overall experience.

In conclusion, GitLab stands out for its comprehensive DevOps features and tool integrations, enhancing developer productivity. However, its wide range of features can feel overwhelming and may present a steep learning curve for new users.

In conclusion, GitLab's all-in-one platform approach offers efficiency, reducing the need for numerous tools and minimizing context switching for developers. Yet, its extensive capabilities might present implementation challenges for smaller teams without dedicated DevOps personnel.

Backstage by Spotify

Backstage, an open-source project created by Spotify, is gaining popularity in platform engineering. It simplifies workflows and unifies tools management. It's a central hub where developers find and use services, libraries, and APIs. This leads to quicker component reuse and improved code quality.

Backstage's interface is customizable and extensible. This allows engineering teams to create personalized views and self-service portals. It simplifies onboarding and promotes developer independence. Its plugin ecosystem allows smooth tool integration, eliminating platform-switching needs.

In short, Backstage enhances developer productivity, speeds up software delivery, and fosters collaboration. However, the customization options require initial setup time, and it might not integrate with all potential third-party tools, which could limit its applicability in some environments.

Crossplane

Crossplane is an open-source CNCF project that helps organizations build their own cloud native control plane. It leverages the Kubernetes API to provision and manage infrastructure, services and applications. It acts as a Kubernetes add-on and extends the Kubernetes functionalities. 

With Crossplane, engineers can effortlessly define and deploy infrastructure resources as code, enabling them to automate and streamline complex provisioning processes. Its unique ability to abstract away the underlying infrastructure details while providing a consistent and unified interface simplifies the management of diverse cloud environments. Crossplane empowers organizations to enhance their platform engineering capabilities, accelerate development cycles, and achieve greater efficiency in managing complex infrastructure landscapes.

Conclusion

Platform engineering is becoming a vital part of any software-focused organization. It supports developers, enhancing productivity and the developer experience. This field allows developers to concentrate on writing top-notch code by removing past challenges related to infrastructure and frameworks.

Platform engineering teams deliver robust infrastructure, streamlined workflows, and efficient collaboration via Internal Developer Platforms (IDPs). The right mix of tools, from containerization and orchestration to CI/CD pipelines and automated testing, can boost productivity, shorten time-to-market, and promote continuous improvement.

To conclude, platform engineering is excellent for enhancing productivity and simplifying developer work. However, it requires careful tool selection and maintenance, and without proper training, teams may struggle to maximize the benefits.