Containerd is an open-source container runtime that provides a stable and reliable foundation for container orchestration systems. It was originally developed by Docker, but was later donated to the Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF) in 2017.
Containerd is designed to support various container specifications, including Docker image format, Open Container Initiative (OCI) image and runtime specifications, and Kubernetes Container Runtime Interface (CRI). It enables users to manage container lifecycles, such as starting, stopping, pausing, and deleting containers, as well as managing container networks and storage.
Containerd is widely used in container orchestration platforms, such as Kubernetes, Docker Swarm, and Mesos, and is supported by major public cloud providers, including Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Platform (GCP).