# Platform engineering

> Building an internal product that lets developers ship without becoming cloud experts.

- Level: Advanced
- Topics: Cloud, Software
- URL: https://tidbit.legios.com.ar/platform-engineering/
- In Spanish: [Platform engineering](https://tidbit.legios.com.ar/es/platform-engineering/)

Modern software runs on a long stack of tools: cloud accounts, Kubernetes, CI/CD pipelines, infrastructure as code, secrets, monitoring, security scanners. The DevOps idea of "you build it, you run it" put much of that on every product team, and many ended up spending more time wiring tools than building features. **Platform engineering** answers that by having a dedicated **platform team** build a shared, self-service layer on top of all that complexity.

That layer is called an **internal developer platform**. Through a portal, a command line or a few config files, a developer can create a new service from a template, get a repository with its pipeline already set up, request a database, deploy to staging and see logs and dashboards, all without filing tickets or learning every tool underneath. The recommended routes are called **golden paths**: the easy, supported way to do common tasks, with security and cost rules already built in. Backstage, an open-source portal created at Spotify, is a popular starting point.

The key mindset is treating the platform as a product and developers as its customers: interview them, measure whether they adopt it, and make the golden path the easiest path rather than a mandate. Done badly, a platform becomes one more bureaucratic gate, or a pile of tools nobody asked for. Done well, it lets a company with dozens of teams move fast while keeping its infrastructure consistent and secure.

## An analogy

A shared professional kitchen in a food hall. Each restaurant cooks its own menu, but the gas, ventilation, cold storage and health inspections are set up and maintained by one team, so the chefs can focus on the food.

## Keep in mind

- A platform team builds self-service tools for the other development teams.
- The internal developer platform hides infrastructure details behind templates and a portal.
- Golden paths make the recommended way also the easiest way.
- It works when run as a product, with developers as its customers.

## Go deeper

- [CNCF platforms white paper](https://tag-app-delivery.cncf.io/whitepapers/platforms/)
- [What is Backstage?](https://backstage.io/docs/overview/what-is-backstage)
- [Platform engineering on Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Platform_engineering)

## Related terms

- [Cloud computing](https://tidbit.legios.com.ar/cloud-computing/): Renting computers over the internet instead of buying your own.
- [Kubernetes](https://tidbit.legios.com.ar/kubernetes/): The system that runs and babysits containers across many machines.
- [CI/CD](https://tidbit.legios.com.ar/ci-cd/): Automation that builds, tests and ships every code change, so releases become routine.
- [Infrastructure as code](https://tidbit.legios.com.ar/infrastructure-as-code/): Describing servers, networks and databases in files instead of clicking.
- [DevOps](https://tidbit.legios.com.ar/devops/): Breaking the wall between people who write software and people who run it.
- [Command line](https://tidbit.legios.com.ar/command-line/): Controlling a computer by typing text commands instead of clicking icons.
- [Database](https://tidbit.legios.com.ar/database/): An organized store of data that programs can search and update safely.
- [Deployment](https://tidbit.legios.com.ar/deployment/): Getting a new version of software from the team's computers to real users.