Kyverno is a Kubernetes policy engine and cloud native governance tool. It functions as a policy-as-code framework that validates, mutates, and generates resources to enforce security and governance standards within a cluster.
The project distinguishes itself through a declarative policy model that utilizes native Kubernetes custom resource definitions, allowing policies to be managed as standard cluster objects without custom code. It provides specific security capabilities for container image verification and signature validation to ensure only trusted images are deployed.
Its broader capabilities include admission control for intercepting and modifying API requests, background scanning for compliance auditing, and resource automation for generating companion objects or cleaning up unused resources. It also covers multi-tenancy isolation, resource quota enforcement, and the application of security policies to maintain cluster health.
A command line tool is available for local policy testing and validation before deployment.