Kontena

One UI. Any engine. A cross-platform desktop app to manage containers through a single, fast, backend-agnostic interface — regardless of which runtime engine powers them underneath.

Docker and Podman at launch; Apple's native container (macOS 26) planned. Kubernetes / Swarm orchestration comes later.

Status: early scaffold. Built with .NET 10 + Avalonia (MVVM).

Why

Developers get locked into one container tool and its quirks. Kontena treats the backend as an implementation detail: switch engines without switching apps or relearning anything. The engine is chosen through a single Container Engine Abstraction Layer (CEAL) that every backend adapter implements.

Solution layout

Kontena.slnx
├─ src/
│  ├─ Kontena.Core             # Engine-neutral domain models & product identity (no UI)
│  ├─ Kontena.Engines          # CEAL contract, engine registry, providers (no UI)
│  ├─ Kontena.Sdk              # Extension SDK: IEnginePlugin + manifest (no UI)
│  ├─ Kontena.Adapters.Docker  # Docker + Podman adapter & providers      (no UI)
│  ├─ Kontena.Adapters.Podman  # (reserved) dedicated Podman adapter       (no UI)
│  └─ Kontena.App              # Avalonia desktop UI (MVVM)
└─ tests/
   ├─ Kontena.Core.Tests
   ├─ Kontena.Engines.Tests
   └─ Kontena.Adapters.Docker.Tests   # integration (skips without Docker)

Core / Engines / Adapters carry no Avalonia reference — the whole abstraction layer is unit-testable without the UI.

Extensibility

Kontena is provider-based. Every backend registers as an IEngineProvider with the EngineRegistry, which probes providers for availability — the app hard-codes nothing. Built-in providers cover Docker, Podman (reusing the Docker-compatible adapter), and an in-memory Fake for development.

To add a new backend you implement two interfaces — IContainerEngine (the CEAL) and IEngineProvider — and expose them through IEnginePlugin from Kontena.Sdk. A future plugin loader (KON-49) will discover SDK plugins from external assemblies and register their providers at runtime, which is the foundation for a store of installable adapters (KON-51).

Prerequisites

• .NET 10 SDK

Build & run

# restore + build everything
dotnet build Kontena.slnx

# run the desktop app
dotnet run --project src/Kontena.App

# run the tests
dotnet test Kontena.slnx

Design

Own visual identity — dark-first "control plane" look, Lucide icons. Palette, typography and component rules live in the design system; mockups for the MVP + Phase 2 screens exist as self-contained HTML.

Tracking

Work is tracked in YouTrack project KON. First sprint: scaffold (KON-19) → CEAL contract (KON-20) → Docker adapter (KON-27).