aid: cri-o
name: CRI-O
kind: opensource
description: >-
  CRI-O is a CNCF graduated, lightweight container runtime built specifically for Kubernetes. It implements the
  Kubernetes Container Runtime Interface (CRI) gRPC API and uses any Open Container Initiative (OCI) compatible runtime,
  including runc and crun, as the underlying container executor. CRI-O integrates with the containers/image and
  containers/storage libraries, the conmon container monitor, and CNI plugins to deliver a minimal kubelet-facing
  runtime surface, while also exposing an HTTP status API and Prometheus metrics endpoint for operations and
  observability.
url: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/cri-o/refs/heads/main/apis.yml
accessModel:
  pricing: free
  onboarding: unknown
  trial: false
  try_now: false
  public: false
  label: Free
  confidence: medium
  source:
  - plans
  generated: '2026-07-22'
  method: derived
image: https://kinlane-images.s3.amazonaws.com/shared/apis-json/icons/cri-o.png
tags:
  - Apache 2.0
  - CNCF
  - Cloud Native
  - conmon
  - Container Runtime
  - Containers
  - CRI
  - Go
  - Graduated
  - Kubernetes
  - OCI
  - Open Source
  - Prometheus
  - runc
created: '2025-01-01'
modified: '2026-05-19'
specificationVersion: '0.20'
type: Index
access: Public
position: Provider
apis:
- aid: cri-o:cri-o-cri-grpc-api
  name: CRI-O CRI gRPC API
  description: >-
    CRI-O implements the Kubernetes Container Runtime Interface (CRI) gRPC API that the kubelet uses to
    manage pod sandboxes, containers, image lifecycle, and runtime status. The CRI gRPC API is served
    over a Unix domain socket (default /var/run/crio/crio.sock) and includes services for RuntimeService
    and ImageService as defined by the upstream CRI protobuf specification.
  humanURL: https://kubernetes.io/docs/concepts/architecture/cri/
  properties:
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://kubernetes.io/docs/concepts/architecture/cri/
  - type: Specification
    url: https://github.com/kubernetes/cri-api
  - type: GitHubRepository
    url: https://github.com/cri-o/cri-o
  tags:
  - CRI
  - gRPC
  - Kubelet
  - Kubernetes
- aid: cri-o:cri-o-containers-api
  name: CRI-O Containers API
  description: Endpoints that return information about live containers.
  humanURL: https://kubernetes.io/docs/concepts/architecture/cri/
  baseURL: http://localhost
  tags:
  - Containers
  properties:
  - type: OpenAPI
    url: openapi/cri-o-containers-api-openapi.yml
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://github.com/cri-o/cri-o
  - type: Rules
    url: rules/cri-o-status-rules.yml
  - type: Capabilities
    url: capabilities/cri-o-status-capabilities.yml
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://github.com/cri-o/cri-o/blob/main/docs/metrics.md
  - type: Rules
    url: rules/cri-o-metrics-rules.yml
  - type: Capabilities
    url: capabilities/cri-o-metrics-capabilities.yml
- aid: cri-o:cri-o-debug-api
  name: CRI-O Debug API
  description: Golang debug endpoints for goroutines, heap, and profiling.
  humanURL: https://kubernetes.io/docs/concepts/architecture/cri/
  baseURL: http://localhost
  tags:
  - Debug
  properties:
  - type: OpenAPI
    url: openapi/cri-o-debug-api-openapi.yml
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://github.com/cri-o/cri-o
  - type: Rules
    url: rules/cri-o-status-rules.yml
  - type: Capabilities
    url: capabilities/cri-o-status-capabilities.yml
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://github.com/cri-o/cri-o/blob/main/docs/metrics.md
  - type: Rules
    url: rules/cri-o-metrics-rules.yml
  - type: Capabilities
    url: capabilities/cri-o-metrics-capabilities.yml
- aid: cri-o:cri-o-information-api
  name: CRI-O Information API
  description: Runtime version, configuration, and general info endpoints.
  humanURL: https://kubernetes.io/docs/concepts/architecture/cri/
  baseURL: http://localhost
  tags:
  - Information
  properties:
  - type: OpenAPI
    url: openapi/cri-o-information-api-openapi.yml
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://github.com/cri-o/cri-o
  - type: Rules
    url: rules/cri-o-status-rules.yml
  - type: Capabilities
    url: capabilities/cri-o-status-capabilities.yml
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://github.com/cri-o/cri-o/blob/main/docs/metrics.md
  - type: Rules
    url: rules/cri-o-metrics-rules.yml
  - type: Capabilities
    url: capabilities/cri-o-metrics-capabilities.yml
- aid: cri-o:cri-o-lifecycle-api
  name: CRI-O Lifecycle API
  description: Endpoints to pause and unpause running containers.
  humanURL: https://kubernetes.io/docs/concepts/architecture/cri/
  baseURL: http://localhost
  tags:
  - Lifecycle
  properties:
  - type: OpenAPI
    url: openapi/cri-o-lifecycle-api-openapi.yml
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://github.com/cri-o/cri-o
  - type: Rules
    url: rules/cri-o-status-rules.yml
  - type: Capabilities
    url: capabilities/cri-o-status-capabilities.yml
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://github.com/cri-o/cri-o/blob/main/docs/metrics.md
  - type: Rules
    url: rules/cri-o-metrics-rules.yml
  - type: Capabilities
    url: capabilities/cri-o-metrics-capabilities.yml
- aid: cri-o:cri-o-metrics-api
  name: CRI-O Metrics API
  description: Prometheus metrics scraping endpoint.
  humanURL: https://kubernetes.io/docs/concepts/architecture/cri/
  baseURL: http://localhost
  tags:
  - Metrics
  properties:
  - type: OpenAPI
    url: openapi/cri-o-metrics-api-openapi.yml
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://github.com/cri-o/cri-o
  - type: Rules
    url: rules/cri-o-status-rules.yml
  - type: Capabilities
    url: capabilities/cri-o-status-capabilities.yml
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://github.com/cri-o/cri-o/blob/main/docs/metrics.md
  - type: Rules
    url: rules/cri-o-metrics-rules.yml
  - type: Capabilities
    url: capabilities/cri-o-metrics-capabilities.yml
common:
  - type: AgenticAccess
    url: agentic-access/cri-o-agentic-access.yml
  - type: DomainSecurity
    url: security/cri-o-domain-security.yml
  - type: Website
    url: https://cri-o.io/
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://github.com/cri-o/cri-o/tree/main/docs
  - type: GettingStarted
    url: https://github.com/cri-o/cri-o/blob/main/install.md
  - type: GitHubOrganization
    url: https://github.com/cri-o
  - type: GitHubRepository
    url: https://github.com/cri-o/cri-o
  - type: Blog
    url: https://cri-o.io/#blog
  - type: ChangeLog
    url: https://github.com/cri-o/cri-o/releases
  - type: Community
    url: https://github.com/cri-o/cri-o#getting-started
  - type: License
    url: https://github.com/cri-o/cri-o/blob/main/LICENSE
  - type: CNCF
    url: https://www.cncf.io/projects/cri-o/
maintainers:
  - FN: Kin Lane
    email: kin@apievangelist.com