Glossary

Bundle

A CNAB packaging format for multi-component distributed applications. A bundle packages everything needed to install, upgrade, and uninstall an application, including the tooling and logic required to manage its lifecycle.

See Introduction to Bundles.

CNAB

Cloud Native Application Bundle. An open specification for packaging and distributing cloud-native applications and their dependencies. CNAB defines how bundles are built, published, and executed in a consistent way across different environments and toolchains.

See the CNAB specification.

Config File

The porter.yaml manifest at the root of a bundle’s source directory. It defines the bundle’s metadata, parameters, credentials, mixins, and the actions (install, upgrade, uninstall) used to manage the application lifecycle.

Digest

An immutable SHA256 hash that uniquely identifies a specific image manifest in a registry. Unlike a tag, a digest never changes and always refers to the same content.

Example: sha256:abc123...

Docker Host / Daemon

The Docker service (dockerd) running on a machine that manages containers, images, networks, and volumes. Porter’s Docker mixin communicates with the Docker daemon to run containers as part of a bundle’s actions.

Installation

Porter’s record of a bundle instance that has been installed into an environment. An installation tracks the bundle reference, parameter values, credential bindings, and the current state of the managed application.

See Introduction to Desired State.

Manifest

A JSON document stored in a registry that describes an OCI image, including its configuration and the list of content-addressable layers that make up the image filesystem.

Mixin

An adapter that integrates an existing tool (such as Helm, Terraform, or kubectl) into a Porter bundle. Mixins provide reusable steps that can be used in a bundle’s install, upgrade, and uninstall actions.

See Introduction to Mixins.

Plugin

An extension that provides Porter with alternative backends for storage or secrets management. Plugins allow Porter to integrate with different infrastructure (for example, storing installation records in Azure Blob Storage or retrieving credentials from HashiCorp Vault).

See Introduction to Plugins.

Registry

An OCI/Docker-compatible service that stores and distributes images and artifacts. Bundles are published to and pulled from registries in the same way as container images.

Examples: Docker Hub, GitHub Container Registry, Azure Container Registry.

Repository

A named collection of related images within a registry. A repository holds multiple versions of the same artifact, each identified by a tag or digest.

Example: ghcr.io/getporter/porter is a repository within the ghcr.io registry.

Tag

A mutable, human-readable label that points to a specific version of an image within a repository. Because tags can be updated to point to different content over time, use a digest when you need a stable, immutable reference.

Example: ghcr.io/getporter/porter:v1.0.0