Getting Started with Tekton: Building Kubernetes-Native CI/CD Pipelines

As software teams move toward containerized workloads and Kubernetes-based infrastructures, traditional CI/CD tools often feel clunky, inflexible, or ill-suited for modern development. This is where Tekton, an open-source project born from the Knative ecosystem, shines through. Designed from the ground up to be Kubernetes-native, Tekton allows developers to build powerful CI/CD pipelines that are scalable, modular, secure, and cloud-native by design. This blog will walk you through what Tekton is, how it works, how to get started with it, its core building blocks, the advantages it offers over traditional CI/CD tools, and why it’s quickly becoming a favorite among cloud-native developers.

Let’s dive deep into the world of Kubernetes-native continuous integration and continuous delivery pipelines using Tekton.

‍

What Is Tekton, and Why Developers Should Care

Tekton is an open-source framework for building CI/CD systems on Kubernetes using standard Kubernetes Custom Resource Definitions (CRDs). What makes Tekton unique is that it doesn’t try to replace your CI/CD system, it gives you the tools to build one yourself in a modular and reusable way. This developer-centric approach is ideal for platform teams, DevOps engineers, and SREs who want flexibility and control over their deployment pipelines.

At its core, Tekton enables pipeline-as-code, meaning developers can define entire workflows in declarative YAML files. Each part of the pipeline, steps, tasks, pipelines, triggers, is represented as a Kubernetes object, making it easy to version, maintain, and extend. Because Tekton is container-native, each task or step runs in an isolated container, ensuring consistent behavior across environments.

Tekton is especially beneficial for teams practicing GitOps, cloud-native development, and microservices-based architecture, as it aligns seamlessly with Kubernetes principles like scalability, immutability, and observability. It also offers native integrations with popular tools like Kaniko (for building containers), GitHub/GitLab (via Tekton Triggers), and ArgoCD or Flux (for GitOps workflows).

‍

Advantage Over Traditional CI/CD Tools

While legacy CI/CD tools like Jenkins, CircleCI, and TravisCI have been staples of software delivery, they were not designed with containers and Kubernetes in mind. Jenkins, for example, relies heavily on plugins, mutable state, and persistent servers, which are difficult to scale and secure in a modern cloud-native environment. Tekton, on the other hand, was built with Kubernetes as a first-class citizen. Let’s explore why this matters.

1. Kubernetes-Native by Design: Tekton runs entirely within a Kubernetes cluster. Each Task or Step is a pod or container, leveraging Kubernetes' native orchestration, scheduling, and scaling. You don’t need an external CI/CD server, your pipelines run as part of your Kubernetes infrastructure.
   
   
2. Infrastructure as Code & Pipeline as Code: Unlike traditional tools where pipeline logic lives in GUIs or DSLs, Tekton allows you to define pipelines in version-controlled YAML files. This approach enhances reproducibility, traceability, and collaboration.
   
   
3. Ephemeral & Stateless: Tekton pipelines are fully ephemeral. No persistent runners or long-lived agents are required. Each execution spins up clean containers, eliminating leftover state and reducing errors caused by “dirty” environments.
   
   
4. Reusable Components: Tekton encourages modularity. Tasks can be reused across pipelines or projects, thanks to the Tekton Catalog, a curated collection of pre-built CI/CD tasks shared by the community.
   
   
5. Security & Isolation: Because each Step runs in its own container, Tekton offers strong isolation. Combined with Kubernetes RBAC, PodSecurityPolicies, and network policies, this makes Tekton ideal for multi-tenant environments and regulated industries.
   
   
6. Event-Driven Pipelines: Tekton Triggers allow pipelines to be initiated via Git events (like a push or pull request), webhooks, or other sources. This enables real-time, automated delivery workflows without polling.
   
   
7. Cloud-Native Scalability: Tekton takes full advantage of Kubernetes' scalability. When pipeline load increases, Kubernetes scales the pods accordingly. No manual scaling or provisioning of runners is necessary.
   
   

Core Concepts & How to Use Tekton

Tekton revolves around a set of Custom Resources that represent each component of a CI/CD workflow. Understanding these resources is key to mastering Tekton.

Steps
A Step is a single containerized command or process. It might run a unit test, build an image, or lint code. Multiple steps can be combined in sequence.

Tasks
A Task is a higher-level resource that wraps one or more steps. Tasks are designed to be reusable and composable. For example, a Task could include steps to install dependencies, run tests, and build a Docker image. Tasks are defined as YAML files and can accept parameters, workspaces (for file sharing), and results.

apiVersion: tekton.dev/v1beta1

kind: Task

metadata:

  name: example-task

spec:

  steps:

    - name: run-tests

      image: node:18

      script: |

        npm install

        npm test

‍

Pipelines
A Pipeline is a collection of Tasks that run in a defined sequence or parallel. You can define dependencies between tasks to ensure proper order of execution. Pipelines allow you to orchestrate complex workflows, like build → test → deploy.

PipelineRuns
A PipelineRun is the actual execution of a Pipeline. You specify the pipeline name, parameters, workspaces, and service account. This is similar to a “job run” in Jenkins.

Triggers
Tekton Triggers enable pipelines to be started automatically in response to events. You can listen to GitHub push events, GitLab webhooks, or any HTTP requests. Triggers are powerful tools for CI workflows, especially in pull request-based development.

Workspaces
These provide shared volumes between Steps or Tasks within a Pipeline. For example, a build artifact created in one Task can be used by a later Task for deployment.

Tekton CLI (tkn)
The tkn CLI is the preferred way for developers to interact with Tekton resources. You can list pipelines, view logs, start runs, and debug failures with simple commands.

Get Hands-On: Sample Pipeline for a Node.js App

To demonstrate how Tekton works in practice, let’s walk through building a CI pipeline for a Node.js application that installs dependencies, runs tests, builds a Docker image using Kaniko, and deploys to a Kubernetes cluster.

1. Install Tekton
   To install the Tekton Pipelines controller in your cluster:
   
   

kubectl apply -f https://storage.googleapis.com/tekton-releases/pipeline/latest/release.yaml

‍

You can also install Tekton CLI:

brew install tektoncd-cli

‍

2. Define Build and Test Tasks
   
   

You’ll start by defining a Task to run tests:

apiVersion: tekton.dev/v1beta1

kind: Task

metadata:

  name: test-node-app

spec:

  steps:

    - name: test

      image: node:18

      script: |

        npm install

        npm test

‍

Next, define a build Task using Kaniko to containerize the app:

apiVersion: tekton.dev/v1beta1

kind: Task

metadata:

  name: build-image

spec:

  params:

    - name: IMAGE

  steps:

    - name: build-and-push

      image: gcr.io/kaniko-project/executor:latest

      args:

        - --dockerfile=/workspace/Dockerfile

        - --destination=$(params.IMAGE)

        - --context=/workspace

‍

3. Define a Pipeline
   
   

Compose both tasks into a pipeline:

apiVersion: tekton.dev/v1beta1

kind: Pipeline

metadata:

  name: build-and-test-pipeline

spec:

  tasks:

    - name: run-tests

      taskRef:

        name: test-node-app

    - name: build-image

      taskRef:

        name: build-image

      runAfter:

        - run-tests

‍

4. Run the Pipeline
   
   

Create a PipelineRun YAML that references your pipeline:

apiVersion: tekton.dev/v1beta1

kind: PipelineRun

metadata:

  name: build-and-test-run

spec:

  pipelineRef:

    name: build-and-test-pipeline

  params:

    - name: IMAGE

      value: docker.io/myuser/myapp:latest

‍

Then apply it:

kubectl apply -f pipelinerun.yaml

‍

Use tkn pipelinerun logs to view execution logs in real-time.

5. Add a Trigger for Automation
   
   

To automate this pipeline on every Git push:

apiVersion: triggers.tekton.dev/v1alpha1

kind: TriggerTemplate

metadata:

  name: ci-trigger-template

spec:

  params:

    - name: git-revision

    - name: git-repo-url

  resourcetemplates:

    - ...

‍

You’ll connect it to a TriggerBinding and EventListener to hook into GitHub or GitLab.

Benefits for Developers

Tekton is a tool built for developers by developers. Here’s how it specifically benefits development teams:

• Flexibility: Compose workflows however you like. Define custom steps, pass parameters, reuse logic.
  
  
• Scalability: Your pipelines grow with your Kubernetes cluster. Tekton doesn’t limit parallelism or require extra servers.
  
  
• Developer Productivity: Tekton automates repetitive CI tasks while offering detailed visibility through CLI and logs.
  
  
• Built-in Security: With Tekton Chains and SLSA support, you get signed build artifacts and supply chain security baked in.
  
  
• Portability: Define pipelines once and run them anywhere, on any Kubernetes cluster, on-prem or cloud.
  
  
• Team Collaboration: Version-controlled pipeline definitions allow for reviews, collaboration, and consistent CI/CD practices.
  
  

Best Practices to Maximize Tekton

• Use the Tekton Catalog: Don’t reinvent the wheel. Use prebuilt Tasks from the official catalog to build, test, and deploy.
  
  
• Modularize Your Pipelines: Break large pipelines into small, reusable Tasks. It improves maintainability.
  
  
• Automate with Triggers: Use Triggers to connect pipelines to code repositories and webhooks.
  
  
• Secure Your Workflows: Use service accounts with fine-grained permissions and enable image signing with Chains.
  
  
• Keep It Declarative: Store all pipeline YAMLs in Git and use GitOps tools to deploy them.
  
  

Why This Matters: Tekton in the Real World

Many enterprise teams and cloud-native companies are already using Tekton to power CI/CD at scale. Red Hat OpenShift Pipelines is based on Tekton. Shopify uses Tekton for secure, reproducible pipelines. The adoption is growing across startups and large enterprises because Tekton provides something traditional systems can’t, a fully cloud-native, modular, scalable CI/CD system built on Kubernetes.

If your team is adopting containers, Kubernetes, and GitOps workflows, there’s no better time to adopt Tekton and start building modern CI/CD pipelines the Kubernetes-native way.