Meshery, the extensible cloud native management platform, has achieved a remarkable milestone: recognition as the sixth highest-velocity project within the Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF). This accomplishment is impressive for any project, but especially noteworthy given Meshery’s Sandbox maturity level and its position among 237 CNCF projects! Just six months ago, we celebrated reaching the ninth spot in our April 2025 announcement. Climbing three ranks in such a short time underscores the project’s accelerating momentum and the unwavering dedication of our global community.

From Humble Beginnings to High-Velocity Powerhouse

Meshery’s journey reflects a consistent trajectory of growth and innovation in the cloud native ecosystem. As detailed in our incubation proposal and previous updates, the project’s velocity rankings have steadily improved:

  • 2020-2021 (Jan): 33rd highest velocity
  • 2021-2022 (Jan): 31st highest velocity
  • 2022-2023 (Jan): 19th highest velocity
  • 2023-2024 (Jan): 10th highest velocity
  • 2024-2025 (Apr): 9th highest velocity
  • 2025-2025 (Jul): 6th highest velocity

This progression is fueled by a 350% increase in code commits over the past year, surpassing 10,000 GitHub stars, and contributions from over 3,000 open source contributors. Our community now boasts more than 10,000 members, all united by a shared passion for simplifying cloud native infrastructure management.

As an extensible engineering platform, Meshery has blossomed far beyond its initial scope. Originally housed in a single GitHub organization, its expansive ecosystem of extensions now spans two primary organizations: meshery for core components, and meshery-extensions for ecosystem extensions and integrations. This structure supports over 300 out-of-the-box integrations with CNCF projects, enabling seamless lifecycle, configuration, and performance management across multi-cluster and multi-cloud environments.

Meshery empowers DevOps, Platform, SRE, and Application teams with features like collaborative GitOps, distributed performance management, and a visual designer for deployments. By addressing key challenges in cloud native operations, Meshery accelerates learning and experimentation, allowing users to explore CNCF projects hands-on.

Leading the Way in Mentorship and Community Engagement

Meshery’s success is deeply rooted in its vibrant, inclusive community. Our Newcomer Onboarding Program ensures contributions are accessible to all, fostering high activity in code commits, pull requests, and issue resolutions.

We’re proud to highlight Meshery’s role in nurturing the next generation of cloud native experts:

  • #1 Most Popular Internship in the LFX Program: With over 10,000 applicants and over a 100 internship graduates, Meshery stands out as the top choice for aspiring developers in the Linux Foundation’s LFX Mentorship program, offering hands-on projects in areas like model relationships for cloud services (AWS, GCP, Azure), workflow engines, and end-to-end testing. With terms spanning Spring, Summer, and Fall, mentees gain practical experience in DevOps, Kubernetes, and cloud native tools.
  • Marquee Project in Google Summer of Code (GSoC): As a flagship participant in GSoC, Meshery provides mentees with opportunities to tackle real-world challenges in distributed systems and best-practice patterns. Projects for 2025 include support for Azure in Meshery, end-to-end testing with BATS, kubectl plugins, and hands-on tutorials using Meshery Playground. This program emphasizes self-assessment, impact, and long-term relationships, ensuring mentees emerge with valuable experience.

These initiatives embody our pay-it-forward mentality, where maintainers and MeshMates guide newcomers in an inclusive environment. Join us on Slack to collaborate and contribute!

Join the Meshery Movement

This sixth-place velocity ranking is a collective triumph, reflecting the hard work of our contributors and the project’s growing relevance in the cloud native landscape. As Meshery continues to evolve, we invite you to be part of this exciting journey. Whether you’re a developer, operator, or enthusiast, there’s a place for you in our community.

Download Meshery today, explore our integrations, and help shape the future of cloud native management. Together, we’re not just managing infrastructure—we’re redefining it.

For more details on our progress, revisit our previous announcement and project statistics on DevStats. Stay tuned for more updates, and let’s keep the momentum going! 🚀