Kubernetes-native systems have no build server at all. They add custom resource types to a cluster (Kubernetes), and a controller inside it turns each run into pods, one container per step, so scaling, scheduling and isolation come from Kubernetes 5,150 itself.
Tekton 551,465 (github.com/tektoncd/pipeline (https://github.com/tektoncd/pipeline 9,071 ), Apache-2.0, v1.16.0 of 31 August
defines Tasks made of steps and Pipelines that chain tasks, both run by creating TaskRun and
PipelineRun resources; Tekton Triggers starts them from webhooks. It was a Continuous Delivery Foundation project beside Jenkins 8,793 until it moved to the CNCF in March 2026, and Jenkins X 4,691 builds on it. Argo Workflows 126 (github.com/argoproj/argo-workflows (https://github.com/argoproj/argo-workflows 17,006 ), Apache-2.0, v4.1.4 of 18 September 2026), part of the CNCF-graduated Argo 126 project, runs any directed acyclic graph of containers: CI, but also data processing and machine-learning jobs, with a web UI and artifact passing between steps. Its sibling Argo CD 126 , the GitOps deployer, often follows a Jenkins or Actions build.
They suit teams that already run Kubernetes well: pipelines are YAML applied with kubectl 5,150 , and nothing idles between builds. In exchange, every run pays pod start-up time, caches need persistent volumes, and there is no plugin catalog. Kubernetes Pod Templates's Kubernetes plugin is the middle path: a Jenkins controller that runs its agents as pods.