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Introduction

Tiaki is an automated container update management system for Docker and Kubernetes. It monitors your running containers, detects available updates, and automates deployments with built-in rollback capabilities.

How it works​

Tiaki uses a distributed architecture consisting of two components:

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                    Control Plane                        │
│  React Dashboard  ←→  tRPC API  ←→  PostgreSQL         │
└────────────────────────┬────────────────────────────────┘
                         │ REST API (proto/api.yaml)
          ┌──────────────┴──────────────┐
          ▼                             ▼
┌──────────────────┐          ┌──────────────────┐
│   Docker Agent   │          │  Kubernetes Agent │
│  (VM / Compose)  │          │   (K8s cluster)  │
└──────────────────┘          └──────────────────┘
  • Control Plane — A web application (TypeScript/Node.js) with a React dashboard and a PostgreSQL database. You run it once, centrally.
  • Agents — Lightweight Go binaries deployed on every host or cluster you want to manage. They scan containers, detect updates, execute deployments, and report back to the control plane.

Key features​

  • Automatic update detection — Continuously polls container registries for new image versions using semver comparison (for tagged images) or digest comparison (for latest and similar tags)
  • Automated deployments — Deploy updates with one click or enable fully automatic deployments
  • One-click rollbacks — Instantly revert to any previous version
  • Security scanning — Optional Trivy integration for vulnerability detection before deployment
  • Git integration — Auto-commit docker-compose.yml changes to your repository
  • Audit logging — Full history of all deployments, rollbacks, and agent activity
  • Email notifications — Stay informed about available updates and deployment results
  • AI-powered release notes — Optional Anthropic integration to summarize changelogs

When to use Tiaki​

Tiaki is a good fit if you:

  • Run Docker Compose workloads on VMs and want automated, safe updates
  • Manage Kubernetes clusters and want centralized update visibility
  • Want a self-hosted alternative to commercial container management tools
  • Need audit trails and rollback capabilities for production deployments

Next steps​