Secret sauce code now open source ( * it beats AI generated code)

Most multi-service setups still force you to maintain Docker Compose files, Tiltfiles, nginx configs, port maps, and health checks by hand. AI coding agents make the application code easy, but they are still bad at keeping the local infrastructure consistent.

TDK CLI solves this by treating a tiny declarative file as the source of truth and generating everything else.

This is essentially all you write for a service:

{ "$schema": "https://tdk-landscape.github.io/schema.service.json", "schemaVersion": 1, "appName": "orders-api", "appType": "backend", "stack": "shop", "port": 4000, "healthCheckPath": "/health", "dependsOn": [] } Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode From this single file, TDK generates Dockerfiles, live-reload rules, Traefik routes, shared Postgres wiring, health probes, and the Tilt configuration that actually runs it.

The project is organized as Project → Stack → Resource.

flowchart LR P[Project<br/>.tdk/project.json] --> S1[Stack: shop] P --> S2[Stack: billing] S1 --> R1[orders-api<br/>backend] S1 --> R2[orders-app<br/>frontend] S2 --> R3[checkout-api<br/>backend] Three Subsystems The codebase is deliberately split so each part has a clear job:

flowchart TB subgraph CLI["cli/ (TypeScript)"] Commands[Commands & validation] Templates[Handlebars templates] Ports[Port allocation] end subgraph Discovery["discovery/ (Starlark)"] Scan[Scan service.json] DAG[Build dependency DAG] end subgraph Engine["engine/ (Starlark)"] LiveUpdate[live_update rules] Traefik[Traefik routing] Infra[Postgres + platform] end CLI -->|generates Tiltfile + configs| Discovery Discovery -->|registry + DAG| Engine Engine -->|docker_build + containers| Docker[(Docker)] Subsystem Language Responsibility cli/ TypeScript Commands, validation, port allocation, template generation, launching Tilt discovery/ Starlark Scan for service.json files, normalize them, build the dependency DAG engine/ Starlark Runs inside Tilt — turns the DAG into real docker_build, live_update, Traefik, Postgres, etc. The CLI never starts containers itself. The engine never parses CLI flags. Discovery never builds images.

The real glue is the template engine ( cli/src/generator/template-engine.ts ). It reads.tdk/project.json and emits files into the gitignored.tdk/.tdk-out/ directory:

These come from Handlebars templates. The CLI also vendors a copy of the engine and discovery code so tdk up works offline.

sequenceDiagram actor Dev participant CLI as TDK CLI participant Gen as Template Engine participant Tilt participant Engine as Starlark Engine participant Docker Dev->>CLI: tdk up shop CLI->>CLI: Preflight (Docker, schema, drift, ports) CLI->>Gen: Ensure master configs Gen-->>CLI:.tdk/.tdk-out/Tiltfile CLI->>Tilt: tilt up -f Tiltfile -- --focus=shop Tilt->>Engine: Load discovery + engine Engine->>Engine: Scan service.json → DAG Engine->>Docker: docker_build + live_update Engine->>Docker: Start Traefik + Postgres Docker-->>Tilt: Containers healthy Tilt-->>CLI: Ready CLI-->>Dev: Print URLs + Tilt UI High-level steps:

TDK is strict about this boundary so AI agents (and humans) cannot silently break the infrastructure:

flowchart LR subgraph Committed["Committed (source of truth)"] PJ[.tdk/project.json] SJ[services/*/*/service.json] Code[Your app source] end subgraph Generated["Generated (gitignored)"] Out[.tdk/.tdk-out/<br/>Tiltfile, specs] Auto[services/*/*/.autogenerated/] Env[.env] end Committed -->|tdk project / tdk resource / tdk up| Generated Generated -->|tdk config regenerate| Committed Path Status Why.tdk/project.json Committed Project identity and phases services/*/*/service.json Committed Service contract Application source Committed Your code.tdk/.tdk-out/ Generated Derived from templates services/*/*/.autogenerated/ Generated Engine output during Tilt.env Generated Local secrets What It Is Not TDK is a local development runtime. It does not deploy to staging or production. The project explicitly leaves production to Helm, Argo CD, or whatever you already use.

The local environment is optimized for speed and developer experience, not for being a perfect replica of production.

npm install -g @tdk-landscape/tdk-cli-core tdk doctor tdk project --yes tdk resource orders-api --type backend --stack shop --yes tdk up shop Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode Or clone the official starter and open it in any cloud IDE.

Expand tdk-cli tdk-cli tdk-cli Follow Local stacks articles https://github.com/tdk-landscape/tdk-cli-core Pronouns tdk-cli Joined Sep 27, 2026 • Oct 19 Dropdown menu Copy link Hide cool!

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