---
title: "Behind the Scenes: How Maintaining Cloud Native Buildpacks Powers Platforms Like Heroku"
description: "Maintaining the pack CLI and Cloud Native Buildpacks (CNBs) is presented as invisible infrastructure work supporting platforms including Heroku, Google Cloud, OpenShift, VMware Tanzu, and internal systems. Over the last 14 months, maintainers shipped 27 releases—11 for pack and 16 for buildpacks/github-actions—reviewed more than 65 community pull requests, and delivered Execution Environments and System Buildpacks. The work also covered Windows CI migration, a docker/docker to moby/moby client upgrade, FreeBSD binaries, multi-architecture publishing, and a Platform API 0.14 lifecycle-restorer fix. System Buildpacks address platform composition and defaults, while Execution Environments support consistent configurations across development, CI, and production. The post argues that company-funded maintainers and CNCF collaboration turn production requirements into shared infrastructure, with planned build observability, OCI image annotations, and Kaniko removal as further examples."
---

# Behind the Scenes: How Maintaining Cloud Native Buildpacks Powers Platforms Like Heroku

[Heroku](https://yomu.fyi/company/heroku) · Juan Bustamante · Mar 17, 2026

**Type:** Explainer

## Summary

Maintaining the pack CLI and Cloud Native Buildpacks (CNBs) is presented as invisible infrastructure work supporting platforms including Heroku, Google Cloud, OpenShift, VMware Tanzu, and internal systems. Over the last 14 months, maintainers shipped 27 releases—11 for pack and 16 for buildpacks/github-actions—reviewed more than 65 community pull requests, and delivered Execution Environments and System Buildpacks. The work also covered Windows CI migration, a docker/docker to moby/moby client upgrade, FreeBSD binaries, multi-architecture publishing, and a Platform API 0.14 lifecycle-restorer fix. System Buildpacks address platform composition and defaults, while Execution Environments support consistent configurations across development, CI, and production. The post argues that company-funded maintainers and CNCF collaboration turn production requirements into shared infrastructure, with planned build observability, OCI image annotations, and Kaniko removal as further examples.

## Context

Cloud Native Buildpacks and the pack CLI operate between developers and infrastructure, so their maintenance is largely unseen until security patches, bug fixes, or build failures require action. The work is also motivated by the need to sustain critical open source infrastructure while sharing improvements across competing platforms.

## Approach / What changed

Maintainers monitor Slack, triage GitHub issues, review community pull requests, participate in CNCF working groups, and ship releases across pack and buildpacks/github-actions. They implemented Execution Environments and System Buildpacks, migrated Windows CI, upgraded the Docker client dependency, added FreeBSD binaries, fixed multi-architecture publishing and lifecycle-restorer issues, and are developing build observability and OCI image annotation capabilities.

## Takeaways

- The last 14 months produced 27 releases across CNB projects: 11 for pack and 16 for buildpacks/github-actions.
- System Buildpacks let Heroku curate platform defaults while retaining third-party buildpack flexibility, and address buildpack composition for Google Cloud Run.
- Execution Environments support test environments for CI products and consistent build configurations across development, CI, and production.

**Tags:** [Cloud Native Buildpacks](https://yomu.fyi/topic/cloud-native-buildpacks), [Open Source](https://yomu.fyi/topic/open-source)

- Source: [Heroku](https://www.heroku.com/blog/how-maintaining-cloud-native-buildpacks-powers-platforms-like-heroku)
- Source URL: https://www.heroku.com/blog/how-maintaining-cloud-native-buildpacks-powers-platforms-like-heroku
- Ingested by Yomu: 2026-09-10T04:05:26.251Z

[Read original post](https://www.heroku.com/blog/how-maintaining-cloud-native-buildpacks-powers-platforms-like-heroku)