Resource types

Resource types define the formal structure for a kind of real-world resource such as an Amazon S3 bucket or PostgreSQL database.

To leave out the “how” and get to the “what” for a deployment manifest, we need to have a mapping between the name of a certain resource and the actual implementation. This mapping also describes the interface, so both sides know what they can expect or need to implement.

Developers order resources of a certain type and can expect the defined outputs to be delivered back to them - e.g. a resource of type Postgres will probably deliver all details back to create a connection string. Platform engineers provide one or many implementations behind the type and know exactly what their implementations need to pass back to the Orchestrator.

Resource types allow for a clear separation of concerns and responsibilities that is facilitated by the Orchestrator.