What is Crossplane for infrastructure as code?

Question

Accepted Answer

**Crossplane** — Kubernetes-native IaC. Manages cloud resources via CRD.

**Advantages:**
- Single API for AWS/GCP/Azure.
- GitOps-compatible.
- Composition (abstractions for developers).

**Installation:**
```bash
helm repo add crossplane-stable https://charts.crossplane.io/stable
helm install crossplane crossplane-stable/crossplane --namespace crossplane-system --create-namespace
```

**Provider (AWS):**
```yaml
apiVersion: pkg.crossplane.io/v1
kind: Provider
metadata:
  name: provider-aws
spec:
  package: crossplane-contrib/provider-aws:v0.47.1
---
apiVersion: v1
kind: Secret
metadata:
  name: aws-credentials
  namespace: crossplane-system
type: Opaque
data:
  credentials: <base64>
---
apiVersion: aws.crossplane.io/v1beta1
kind: ProviderConfig
metadata:
  name: aws-provider
spec:
  credentials:
    source: Secret
    secretRef:
      name: aws-credentials
      namespace: crossplane-system
      key: credentials
  region: us-east-1
```

**Managed Resource:**
```yaml
apiVersion: ec2.aws.crossplane.io/v1beta1
kind: Instance
metadata:
  name: my-ec2
spec:
  forProvider:
    instanceType: t3.micro
    amiId: ami-xxx
    region: us-east-1
  providerConfigRef:
    name: aws-provider
  writeConnectionSecretToRef:
    name: my-ec2-conn
    namespace: crossplane-system
```

**Composition (abstractions for developers):**
```yaml
apiVersion: aws.platformref.crossplane.io/v1alpha1
kind: Network
metadata:
  name: my-network
spec:
  parameters:
    name: my-vpc
    region: us-west-2
  compositionSelector:
    matchLabels:
      provider: aws
```

**Crossplane vs Terraform:** Crossplane — Kubernetes-native, GitOps, reconciliation loop. Terraform — simpler, state management.

DevOps: What is Crossplane for infrastructure as code?