The Open Component Model (OCM) is an open, technology-agnostic, machine-readable standard for describing software delivery artifacts. It gives software components and their artifacts globally unique identities, records how those artifacts can be accessed, and links versioned dependencies across the software lifecycle. OCM describes and organizes deliverables; it does not build them or deploy them.
What OCM is
The Open Component Model is a common language for software supply-chain tools. The official specification calls it “a technology-agnostic and machine-readable format focused on the software artifacts that must be delivered for software products.”
OCM is designed for teams that need to identify, package, move, verify, and consume software consistently across repositories, environments, and organizational boundaries. Its model can describe OCI images, Helm charts, binaries, configuration files, source repositories, and dependencies without requiring every team to use the same build system, registry, or deployment platform.
The specification draws a deliberate boundary: OCM does not build artifacts and does not define how they are deployed. Build systems, transport tools, signature services, Kubernetes controllers, and deployment platforms can use OCM data, but those capabilities come from the surrounding tooling ecosystem.
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How OCM represents software
OCM treats a software product as a set of logical components. Each component can have multiple immutable versions. A component version is represented by a YAML component descriptor containing its identity and the information needed to locate its contents and dependencies.
Resources: the deliverables
Resources are the artifacts delivered by a component version. Examples include container images, Helm charts, compiled binaries, manifests, and configuration files. A resource entry associates an artifact with metadata such as its type, name, version or digest, and access information.
Sources: the inputs
Sources identify inputs used to create resources. A source may be a Git repository, source archive, or another supported input. Recording sources lets a component version retain a link to the material from which its deliverables were produced.
References: dependencies
References point to other component versions. This allows a descriptor to express a dependency graph instead of treating every artifact as an unrelated file. A platform component, for example, can reference a separately versioned database operator and application component.
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Component and artifact identity
A component’s identity is based on its name and version. OCM uses DNS-based component names, so ownership of a domain helps different organizations avoid naming collisions. Component versions use a relaxed Semantic Versioning style as documented by the project.
The project’s identity guide shows a general coordinate shape:
<component-name>[:<version>[:<artifact-type>/<artifact-name>]]The component coordinate identifies the versioned logical unit. An extended coordinate can identify an individual artifact within that component version. Artifact identity can also include content digests, allowing consumers to distinguish two objects with the same human-readable name.
Names, version rules, access types, and schema details can change as implementations evolve. Use the current identity and specification references when writing automation rather than copying an old example unchanged.
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What a component descriptor contains
The descriptor is the central data structure for an OCM component version. It supplies the component identity and the access details for resources, sources, and references. The exact fields depend on the specification version and the access or extension types in use, so the following is illustrative rather than a universal template.
component:
name: example.org/team/payment-service
version: 1.4.0
resources:
- name: payment-image
type: ociImage
version: 1.4.0
access:
type: ociArtifact
imageReference: registry.example.org/payment:1.4.0
sources:
- name: payment-source
type: git
access:
type: git
repository: https://git.example.org/team/payment-service.git
revision: 4f8c2d1
componentReferences:
- name: shared-runtime
componentName: example.org/platform/shared-runtime
version: 3.2.1In practice, a descriptor may also carry digests, labels, signatures, verification data, and extension metadata. The project’s CLI supports a constructor input format for creating component versions. It validates known constructor and access specifications; unknown extension types may be preserved without schema validation, according to the constructor reference.
What OCM tools do around the model
OCM standardizes the description and access side of a workflow. Tools built around it can use the same identities and descriptors for different operational tasks.
- Packaging and transport: collect a component’s resources and move them between registries, repositories, or disconnected environments.
- Signing and verification: attach and check signatures or other integrity metadata for component versions and artifacts.
- Dependency and compliance workflows: inspect references, record provenance, and process policy or compliance information.
- Deployment integration: retrieve the resources a deployment system needs, while leaving runtime and rollout semantics to that system.
- Air-gapped delivery: use the project’s transport tooling to cross network boundaries where direct registry access is unavailable.
These are ecosystem capabilities, not automatic properties of adopting the abstract data model. An OCM descriptor does not by itself compile source code, scan an image, sign a release, or apply a Kubernetes manifest.
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Does OCM build or deploy software?
No. OCM records what a component version contains, where its resources and sources can be accessed, and which other components it references. A build service must create the image or binary. A transport or registry tool must copy it. A deployment engine or controller must install and manage it at runtime.
This separation is useful because teams can change build and deployment technologies without changing the identity model for the software they deliver. It also prevents a descriptor from being mistaken for a complete CI/CD or security product.
Using OCM with Kubernetes
The OCM project provides Kubernetes-oriented tooling. Its controller documentation covers retrieving a remote component version, verifying components, and making individual resources available in a cluster.
The controller quick start lists a kind cluster and Flux as prerequisites for that tutorial. Those are requirements for the example environment, not universal requirements for OCM. A production installation should follow the controller’s current documentation and verify supported Kubernetes, registry, access, and verification configurations.
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OCM is most useful when a delivery process crosses repository, environment, or organizational boundaries and needs stable references to software contents. A typical flow looks like this:
- A build pipeline produces resources such as an OCI image, chart, or binary.
- A component descriptor records the component name and version, its resources, source inputs, and referenced components.
- The descriptor and referenced artifacts are stored or transported using an OCM-compatible repository or transfer tool.
- Consumers resolve the component version, verify applicable signatures or digests, and select the resources required by their environment.
- A deployment system applies those resources using its own runtime semantics.
The model’s value is the consistent identity and metadata carried through each step, not a replacement for any individual step.
How OCM compares with other approaches
There is no universal winner among artifact and supply-chain formats. Evaluate OCM and alternatives against the workflow you actually operate:
| Evaluation axis | Questions to ask |
|---|---|
| Model coverage | Does the format represent sources, deliverables, dependencies, or all three? |
| Identity | How are components and individual artifacts named, versioned, and disambiguated? |
| Access and storage | Which registries, repositories, transports, and access types are supported? |
| Integrity | How are digests, signatures, verification, and trust policy represented or implemented? |
| Runtime boundary | Does the format include deployment semantics, or does it leave deployment to other tools? |
| Ecosystem fit | Are maintained CLIs, controllers, libraries, and integrations available for your environments? |
OCM’s distinguishing scope is its component-oriented identity model linking sources, deliverables, references, and access information. A fair comparison with another standard requires checking that standard’s current specification and implementation maturity for the same axes.
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- Read the official OCM overview, concepts, tutorials, how-to guides, and reference documentation.
- Choose a DNS-based component namespace you control or are authorized to use.
- Model one real release as a component version with resources, sources, and references.
- Use the current CLI constructor and access-type references to validate the descriptor.
- Decide separately which tools will build, transport, sign, verify, and deploy the artifacts.
- Test retrieval and verification in the environments where the component will be consumed, including disconnected environments if relevant.
OCM documentation and software evolve. The specification, schema, supported access types, and CLI or controller behavior should be checked against the current official references before production automation is written.
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