aid: containerd
name: Containerd
description: >-
  An industry-standard container runtime with an emphasis on simplicity, robustness
  and portability.
url: https://containerd.io/
image: https://kinlane-productions.s3.amazonaws.com/apis-json/apis-json-logo.jpg
tags:
  - Cloud Native
  - Container Runtime
  - CRI
  - Docker
  - gRPC
  - Kubernetes
  - OCI
created: '2025-01-01'
modified: '2026-03-18'
specificationVersion: '0.19'
type: Index
apis:
  - aid: containerd:containerd-grpc-api
    name: Containerd gRPC API
    description: >-
      Core gRPC API for managing the full container lifecycle including
      containers, images, content, snapshots, namespaces, tasks, leases,
      events, and plugins. Provides low-level access to all containerd
      functionality through Protocol Buffers service definitions.
    humanURL: https://github.com/containerd/containerd/tree/main/api
    properties:
      - type: Documentation
        url: https://containerd.io/docs/
      - type: Reference
        url: https://github.com/containerd/containerd/tree/main/api
      - type: JSONSchema
        url: json-schema/containerd-config-schema.json
      - type: JSONSchema
        url: json-schema/containerd-oci-runtime-spec-schema.json
    tags:
      - Container Runtime
      - gRPC
      - Lifecycle Management
  - aid: containerd:containerd-cri-api
    name: Containerd CRI API
    description: >-
      Container Runtime Interface (CRI) implementation that enables
      Kubernetes to use containerd as its container runtime. Supports
      pod sandbox management, container lifecycle operations, image
      pulling, and streaming APIs for exec, attach, and port-forward.
    humanURL: https://github.com/containerd/containerd/tree/main/pkg/cri
    properties:
      - type: Documentation
        url: https://containerd.io/docs/
      - type: Reference
        url: https://github.com/containerd/containerd/tree/main/pkg/cri
      - type: JSONSchema
        url: json-schema/containerd-config-schema.json
    tags:
      - Container Runtime
      - CRI
      - Kubernetes
  - aid: containerd:containerd-metrics-api
    name: Containerd Metrics API
    description: >-
      The containerd metrics plugin exposes a Prometheus-compatible HTTP endpoint
      for scraping runtime metrics. When enabled via the metrics.address
      configuration option in config.toml, it serves Prometheus text format
      metrics covering gRPC request counts, latency histograms, snapshot usage,
      content store statistics, and task lifecycle events.
    humanURL: https://containerd.io/docs/
    properties:
      - type: Documentation
        url: https://containerd.io/docs/
      - type: OpenAPI
        url: openapi/containerd-metrics-openapi.yml
    tags:
      - Metrics
      - Observability
      - Prometheus
  - aid: containerd:containerd-nri-api
    name: Containerd NRI API
    description: >-
      The Node Resource Interface (NRI) is a framework for plugging extensions
      into OCI-compatible container runtimes. NRI plugins receive lifecycle
      event notifications and can make controlled modifications to container
      configurations before creation, enabling domain-specific resource
      management without modifying the runtime itself.
    humanURL: https://github.com/containerd/nri
    properties:
      - type: Documentation
        url: https://github.com/containerd/containerd/blob/main/docs/NRI.md
      - type: GitHubRepository
        url: https://github.com/containerd/nri
    tags:
      - Extensibility
      - Kubernetes
      - NRI
      - Plugins
common:
  - type: Website
    url: https://containerd.io/
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://containerd.io/docs/
  - type: Getting Started
    url: https://containerd.io/docs/getting-started/
  - type: GitHub Organization
    url: https://github.com/containerd
  - type: GitHubRepository
    url: https://github.com/containerd/containerd
  - type: Change Log
    url: https://github.com/containerd/containerd/releases
  - type: Community
    url: https://cloud-native.slack.com/
  - type: CNCF Project
    url: https://www.cncf.io/projects/containerd/
  - type: License
    url: https://github.com/containerd/containerd/blob/main/LICENSE
  - type: JSON-LD
    url: json-ld/containerd-context.jsonld
  - type: JSONSchema
    url: json-schema/containerd-config-schema.json
  - type: JSONSchema
    url: json-schema/containerd-oci-runtime-spec-schema.json
  - type: Spectral
    url: rules/containerd-rules.yml
  - type: Naftiko Capabilities
    url: capabilities/containerd-capabilities.yml
maintainers:
  - FN: Kin Lane
    email: kin@apievangelist.com
x-type: opensource