What is plank?

Plank is a Go library that lets backend services talk to Spinnaker, a popular open-source platform for deploying software. Instead of building custom code to communicate with Spinnaker's different internal services, developers can use Plank to do common tasks like fetching application details or retrieving pipeline configurations with just a few lines of code. Think of it this way: Spinnaker is made up of many small specialized services that handle different parts of the deployment process. Plank acts as a translator that knows how to speak to all these services. Rather than a tool for end users clicking buttons in Spinnaker's UI, it's designed for other software systems that need to query or interact with Spinnaker programmatically, like a CI/CD orchestration tool or an internal dashboard. Using Plank is straightforward. You create a client with a single line of code, optionally configure things like retry behavior or custom service addresses, and then call functions to get the information or perform actions you need. For example, you might fetch an application's configuration, list its deployment pipelines, or trigger a pipeline run. The library handles all the HTTP communication and error handling behind the scenes. The project acknowledges it's still evolving and APIs may change, so it's best suited for teams already comfortable with integrating with Spinnaker and who have the flexibility to adapt if updates come through. It's written in Go, which means it integrates naturally with other Go-based infrastructure tools and services. The README's lighthearted tone, including a note that you should use it "very carefully", suggests this is internal-focused tooling rather than a polished public API.