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Platform Architecture

Codesphere is a virtual cloud platform using a layered architecture. The platform consists of two main layers: the Infrastructure Layer (IaaS) and the Platform Layer. Each layer has distinct responsibilities and provides specific interfaces for users and administrators.

Architecture Overview​

The Platform Layer (PaaS) is designed for enterprise environments, providing a virtual cloud layer with capabilities typically found in large public cloud providers — including managed runtimes & databases, developer workspaces, managed services, observability, API & CLI tools, and team collaboration. The complete package includes an installer product that enables enterprises to self-host the entire platform stack, handling the provisioning and configuration of all necessary infrastructure components.

Platform Architecture

Infrastructure Layer (IaaS)​

The foundational layer provides core infrastructure components, these are managed through the Codesphere OMS (Operations Management System) and include:

  • Kubernetes: Distributed compute for runtimes and services
  • Ceph: Distributed storage (block, object, and file) for persistent data use cases
  • Networking: Load balancing, ingress, and service mesh

This technology stack makes Codesphere independent from the underlying infrastructure. The layer can be deployed on various environments, including on-premises data centers, private clouds, and public cloud providers. Refer to the Installation Guide for deployment options and cluster setup.

Platform Layer (PaaS)​

The application and lifecycle management layer provides components for development teams and platform operators, including:

  • Lifecycle Management: Git-based versioning, CI/CD pipelines, and zero-downtime deployments
  • Managed Services: Curated catalog of databases, storage, messaging, and caching services
  • Runtime Environments: Support for containers, Kubernetes and VMs
  • Development Tools: Collaborative IDE, remote development, and debugging capabilities
  • Runtime Environments: Support for containers, Kubernetes, and VMs
  • Observability: Monitoring, logging, tracing, and usage tracking (cost & fin-ops insights)
  • Multi-Tenancy: Resource isolation, RBAC, and policy enforcement
  • APIs & Integration: REST API, CLI, and Kubernetes Operator for automation

Landscapes: Composing Microservice Architectures​

At the heart of the Platform Layer is the concept of Landscapes — declarative deployment configurations that allow teams to compose complete microservice architectures. A Landscape is defined by a single ci.yml file that specifies:

  • Multiple Runtimes: Deploy various services using different runtime types (containers, VMs, or Kubernetes)
  • Managed Services: Connect databases, caches, message queues, and storage services from the curated catalog
  • Private Networking: Secure service-to-service communication within the Landscape's isolated network
  • Routing & Load Balancing: Configure load balancing, domain mapping, and path-based routing

This application deployment with IaC enables teams to version-control their entire application topology, making it reproducible across environments and easy to collaborate on. Each Landscape is paired with a Workspace that provides the development tools, CI/CD pipelines, and monitoring capabilities needed to build, deploy, and operate the deployed services defined in that Landscape.

Think of it this way

Landscapes combine the multi-service orchestration of Docker Compose with the scalable infrastructure provisioning of Terraform — all in a single file with built-in CI/CD pipelines, monitoring, and zero-downtime deployments. Define your entire microservice architecture, provision databases and infrastructure, configure networking and routing, all from one declarative configuration.

Learn more about Landscapes & Workspaces and explore the Getting Started Guide to deploy your first application.