Extend OpenEverest¶

OpenEverest v2 is built on a modular, extensible architecture. Rather than baking every database technology and feature directly into the core, v2 provides two complementary extension primitives that let developers, operators, and the community bring new capabilities to the platform — without forking or modifying the core.

This shift was a deliberate design goal: integrate a new database technology in days, not months.

The two extension primitives¶

Providers¶

A Provider is a self-contained plugin that teaches OpenEverest how to manage a specific databas or storage technology. It encapsulates the reconciliation logic for an operator, defines the available components and deployment topologies, and ships the UI schema that generates the create/edit forms in the OpenEverest interface.

Providers are installed independently of the OpenEverest core and can be upgraded on their own release cycle.

→ Learn about Providers

Generic Plugins¶

A Generic Plugin extends OpenEverest with new functionality beyond database provisioning. A plugin can contribute UI pages, sidebar entries, database detail panels, backend API logic, and CLI subcommands — all without rebuilding or redeploying the OpenEverest core.

Generic Plugins cover use cases like SQL query browsers, AI data copilots, external database discovery, data migration tools, and compliance/audit tooling.

→ Learn about Generic Plugins

Architecture overview¶

The diagram below shows how the two primitives relate to the OpenEverest core:

graph TB
  subgraph OpenEverest Core
    API[API Server]
    UI[Web UI Shell]
  end

  subgraph Providers
    P[Provider Plugin\nreconciles Instance CRD]
  end

  subgraph Generic Plugins
    GPF[Plugin Frontend Bundle]
    GPB[Plugin Backend Pod]
  end

  subgraph Third-party
    OP[Database Operator]
    TR[Operator-managed resources]
  end

  UI -->|discovers & loads| GPF
  API -->|proxies requests to| GPB
  P -->|creates & manages| TR
  OP -->|reconciles| TR
  API -->|Instance CRD| P

Specifications and further reading¶

The full architectural specifications are maintained in the openeverest/specs repository: