Pulumi

Pulumi is an open source infrastructure-as-code platform that takes a fundamentally different approach from YAML or HCL-based tools by allowing developers to define cloud infrastructure using real programming languages. With support for TypeScript, JavaScript, Python, Go, C#, Java, and YAML, Pulumi enables teams to manage infrastructure with the same language skills, tools, and software engineering practices they use for application development.

The use of general-purpose programming languages is Pulumi's defining advantage over tools like Terraform and CloudFormation. Because infrastructure code is written in a real language, teams can use all the features of that language including loops, functions, classes, interfaces, pattern matching, type checking, and third-party package ecosystems. This eliminates the limitations of domain-specific languages and makes it possible to build abstractions, enforce patterns, and test infrastructure code with the same techniques used for application code.

Pulumi supports all major cloud providers including AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, Kubernetes, and dozens of other platforms through its provider ecosystem. The Pulumi Registry hosts hundreds of providers covering cloud platforms, SaaS services, databases, networking tools, and infrastructure services. The same provider model used by Terraform is also available in Pulumi through Pulumi's Terraform bridge, which allows any of the hundreds of existing Terraform providers to be used in Pulumi programs.

Pulumi Packages and Components are reusable, multi-language infrastructure components that encapsulate best-practice cloud patterns. A component might represent a complete application stack with a load balancer, auto-scaling group, database, and appropriate security configurations. Components written in one language are automatically available in all other Pulumi-supported languages, enabling platform teams to build internal infrastructure libraries that can be consumed by development teams regardless of their language preference.

The Pulumi state management system tracks the current state of managed infrastructure and maps it to the resources defined in programs. Pulumi can store state in its managed backend (Pulumi Cloud), or in self-managed backends such as AWS S3, Azure Blob Storage, or Google Cloud Storage. Pulumi Cloud provides collaborative features including state locking, change history, policy enforcement, and a web console for managing stacks across teams.

Pulumi Automation API allows Pulumi programs to be embedded and executed programmatically within other applications. This makes it possible to build internal developer platforms, deployment pipelines, and infrastructure automation tools that use Pulumi under the hood without requiring users to interact with the Pulumi CLI directly. The Automation API is available for all Pulumi-supported languages and opens up powerful infrastructure-as-software use cases.

Pulumi CrossGuard is the policy-as-code framework that allows teams to define infrastructure policies in TypeScript, Python, or OPA Rego and enforce them automatically during deployment. Policies can prevent deployments that violate security requirements, cost budgets, compliance mandates, or organizational conventions.

Testing infrastructure code is straightforward in Pulumi because programs are written in languages with mature testing frameworks. Unit tests can mock resource creation and verify resource configurations without deploying to a cloud. Integration tests can deploy to real environments and verify that resources are configured correctly.