[Initiative]: CNCF Project Capabilities Badging Framework #1711
Description
Name
CNCF Project Capabilities Badging Framework
Short description
Establish a general, extensible framework for creating, assessing, awarding, and displaying capability badges for CNCF projects across different technical domains.
Responsible group
TOC
Does the initiative belong to a subproject?
Yes
Subproject name
Contributor Strategy
Primary contact
Matt Young
Additional contacts
No response
Initiative description
CNCF Project Capabilities Badging Framework
Description: Establish a general, extensible framework for creating, assessing, awarding, and displaying capability badges for CNCF projects across different technical domains.
This builds on cncf/tag-observability#199, that issue becomes a test case for the framework.
Relevant TAGs/WGs: TAG Contributor Strategy, TAG Security, TAG Operational Resilience (as initial consumers/definers), other TAGs as relevant badges are developed, CNCF TOC.
Problem Statement: CNCF projects currently lack a standardized, discoverable way to communicate their maturity and adherence to best practices in various technical areas (e.g., observability integration, security practices like SBOM generation, documentation standards). This makes it difficult for users to assess project capabilities and for projects to signal their investments in these areas.
Scope:
- Define the overall purpose, principles, and governance model for the CNCF badging system.
- Establish the process for proposing, defining, reviewing, and approving new badge types (e.g., criteria definition, assessment methods).
- Specify standard requirements for badge definitions (levels, criteria clarity, assessment).
- Determine technical mechanisms for storing badge status (e.g., project metadata) and displaying badges (e.g., project READMEs, CNCF Landscape).
- Explicitly Excluded: Defining the specific criteria for all potential badges; implementing the end-to-end tooling for assessment and display within this initial framework definition phase.
Goals:
- Deliver an approved CNCF-wide Badging Framework document outlining governance, processes, and standards.
- Define the standard metadata format for projects to declare achieved badges.
- Establish a clear process for TAGs or other groups to propose and define new badges under the framework.
- Define requirements for how badges should be displayed or discovered (e.g., via Landscape, project documentation).
Non-Goals:
- Mandating participation for all CNCF projects.
- Defining the specific criteria for badges beyond potentially one or two initial examples used to validate the framework.
- Building complex automated verification systems for all badges initially.
Potential Solutions/Approaches:
- Collaborate with TAGs to define the initial governance model and badge proposal process.
- Work with CNCF staff/infra teams on integrating badge display into the Landscape or project metadata files (e.g.,
landscape.yml). - Leverage existing examples like OpenSSF Best Practices Badge for inspiration.
- Develop templates for defining new badge criteria and assessment processes.
Resource Requirements:
- Time commitment from members of relevant TAGs and TOC for definition and review.
- Potentially CNCF staff time for integrating badge display with CNCF web properties/infrastructure.
Timeline: (Estimate) 3-6 months for initial framework definition, documentation, and TOC approval. (Current Date: May 6, 2025)
Deliverable(s) or exit criteria
- TOC approval of the Badging Framework document.
- Successful definition and approval of at least one specific badge type using the new framework process.
- Clear documentation available for projects and TAGs on how to use the framework and participate.
- Mechanism for badge display/discovery identified and specified.