name: Crossplane Vocabulary
description: >-
  Controlled vocabulary describing the core resource types, concepts, and
  relationships in the Crossplane control plane API.
url: https://docs.crossplane.io/latest/concepts/
version: '1.0'
modified: '2026-04-28'
terms:
  - term: Composition
    description: >-
      A template that defines how a composite resource is realized as one
      or more composed managed resources or Composition Functions.
    relatedTerms:
      - CompositeResource
      - CompositionRevision
      - Function
  - term: CompositeResourceDefinition
    description: >-
      An XRD that extends the Kubernetes API with a new composite resource
      type and optionally a namespaced claim type.
    aliases:
      - XRD
    relatedTerms:
      - CompositeResource
      - Claim
  - term: CompositeResource
    description: >-
      A custom Kubernetes resource defined by an XRD whose desired state is
      reconciled into composed resources by a Composition.
    aliases:
      - XR
    relatedTerms:
      - CompositeResourceDefinition
      - Composition
      - Claim
  - term: Claim
    description: >-
      A namespaced resource that requests a CompositeResource on behalf of
      an application team, providing a self-service interface to platform
      capabilities.
    relatedTerms:
      - CompositeResource
      - CompositeResourceDefinition
  - term: Provider
    description: >-
      A Crossplane package that adds support for a specific external API
      (e.g., AWS, GCP, Azure) by introducing managed resources and
      controllers.
    relatedTerms:
      - ProviderConfig
      - ProviderRevision
      - Package
  - term: ProviderConfig
    description: >-
      A configuration object that tells a Provider how to authenticate and
      connect to an external API for managing resources.
    relatedTerms:
      - Provider
      - ManagedResource
  - term: ManagedResource
    description: >-
      A Kubernetes representation of an external API resource, reconciled
      by a Provider controller toward the desired state declared in
      Kubernetes.
    relatedTerms:
      - Provider
      - CompositeResource
  - term: Configuration
    description: >-
      A Crossplane package that bundles XRDs and Compositions for
      distributable platform APIs.
    relatedTerms:
      - Composition
      - CompositeResourceDefinition
      - Package
  - term: Function
    description: >-
      A Composition Function that runs as part of the composition pipeline,
      enabling logic-rich composition beyond patches and transforms.
    relatedTerms:
      - Composition
  - term: EnvironmentConfig
    description: >-
      Shared configuration values referenced by Compositions through
      environment patches, enabling reuse across environments.
    relatedTerms:
      - Composition
  - term: DeploymentRuntimeConfig
    description: >-
      Customization of how Provider and Function deployments run, including
      replica counts, resource limits, and pod template overrides.
    relatedTerms:
      - Provider
      - Function
  - term: Package
    description: >-
      An OCI image containing a Provider, Configuration, or Function and
      installable into a Crossplane control plane.
    relatedTerms:
      - Provider
      - Configuration
      - Function
  - term: PackageRevision
    description: >-
      A specific installed revision of a Package. Crossplane retains a
      configurable history for rollback.
    relatedTerms:
      - Package
      - Provider
      - Configuration