BUILD ON formae - AN AI-NATIVE INFRASTRUCTURE-AS-CODE PLATFORM
Modern infrastructure environments include internal platforms, custom systems, APIs, appliances, and services that evolve continuously. No single Infrastructure as Code tool, including Terraform, can natively support all of them or keep pace as they change.
For infrastructure builders, extensibility is not optional. It determines whether tooling adapts to real environments or forces teams into workarounds.
formae is built as an Infrastructure as Code platform, designed to be extended directly by infrastructure builders — humans and AI — wherever their infrastructure requires it.
Infrastructure tooling should be extensible by default
Traditional Infrastructure as Code ecosystems such as Terraform include a very large number of providers and even generic mechanisms to wrap REST APIs. In theory, this makes it possible to support almost anything.
In practice, building and maintaining IaC providers is slow and brittle. Terraform provider development, in particular, often involves heavy frameworks, complex lifecycle handling, implicit state assumptions, and long feedback loops. Even small changes can require significant effort and ongoing maintenance.
As infrastructure environments grow more heterogeneous, this complexity becomes a real constraint. Teams depend on systems that change faster than Terraform providers and similar integrations can realistically accommodate.
An extensible Infrastructure as Code platform must make plugin development practical, predictable, and repeatable.
formae is a platform for infrastructure builders
formae turns Infrastructure as Code into a platform that builders can extend deliberately and safely.
Builders add support for new technologies by writing formae plugins that define how infrastructure is discovered, represented, and managed. These plugins integrate directly with formae’s internal model and participate in the same workflows as built-in capabilities.
Plugins are explicit and versioned. They behave consistently across environments and avoid fragile wrappers or ad-hoc glue code that are common in traditional Terraform provider implementations.
This shifts Infrastructure as Code from assembling and maintaining providers to intentionally extending a platform.
Build IaC plugins without fighting provider complexity
Extending Terraform and similar IaC tools often means adapting real systems to fit rigid provider models. Even generic REST API providers require forcing infrastructure into abstractions that are difficult to evolve and hard to reason about over time.
formae takes a different approach.
The platform exposes a stable, schema-safe surface specifically designed for plugin development. Builders focus on modeling real systems and their behavior, not on framework internals, lifecycle edge cases, or Terraform-style state synchronization mechanics.
In this context, “extensions” simply refer to formae plugins — first-class components that integrate cleanly with the Infrastructure as Code platform.
As a result, building and evolving infrastructure plugins becomes straightforward instead of turning into a long-term maintenance burden.
Designed for builders and AI agents
Infrastructure builders increasingly work with AI coding assistants to generate code, integrations, and tooling. For this to work reliably, an Infrastructure as Code platform must expose clear, explicit interfaces and enforce strong boundaries.
formae is AI-native by design. Its plugin model is explicit, schema-driven, and predictable, making it suitable for AI-assisted development without sacrificing safety or correctness.
This enables builders and AI agents to work together effectively, accelerating development while preserving consistent behavior across environments.
How to start building on formae
Builders can start building plugins for formae today.
Documentation explains how to design, implement, and evolve plugins, and existing examples show how real systems are modeled. Development happens against a stable interface, making iteration safe and predictable.
If your infrastructure depends on a system that formae does not support yet, the expectation is simple: you should be able to add that support yourself.
FAQ
How do I build a plugin for formae?
You build a plugin by implementing formae’s plugin interface, which defines how infrastructure is discovered, represented, and managed. Plugins are developed against a stable, schema-safe surface and integrate directly with formae’s internal model.
How is building a formae plugin different from building a Terraform provider?
Terraform provider development relies on heavy provider frameworks, implicit state handling, and lifecycle logic that is difficult to evolve. formae plugins are explicit, schema-driven components designed to model real systems directly, without relying on Terraform-style provider abstractions.
Can I use formae to support internal systems or APIs that Terraform does not cover?
Yes. formae is designed specifically to support internal platforms, custom services, APIs, and technologies that are not available as Terraform providers or are difficult to model with them.
Do formae plugins replace Terraform providers?
formae plugins are an alternative to Terraform providers. Instead of wrapping systems in Terraform’s provider model, plugins integrate directly into formae’s Infrastructure as Code platform and participate in its workflows.
Can I build plugins incrementally?
Yes. Plugins can be developed and evolved incrementally. You can start with discovery and basic management and expand support over time without breaking existing behavior.
What makes formae suitable for AI-assisted plugin development?
formae is AI-native: its plugin interfaces are explicit, schema-driven, and predictable. This allows AI coding agents to generate, modify, and extend plugins safely, without relying on implicit behavior or fragile conventions.
How long does it take to build a formae plugin?
For many systems, a working plugin can be built in hours, not weeks, especially when using modern AI coding tools alongside formae’s documentation and existing plugins.