Ikanos¶
Ikanos is the open source framework for Spec-Driven Integration. It lets you build the MCP server your agent needs, not use the one your vendor ships. Custom, use-case-shaped MCP surfaces — integrated from as many public and private APIs as the context requires — without the generic-server tax.
It reads one YAML file describing a slice of your business — say customers or orders. A capability consumes the HTTP/REST APIs you already have and structures their responses into clean JSON, then aggregates and orchestrates those operations into a unified contract that it instantly serves to AI agents, web apps, and partners over several protocols at once. One source of truth, many audiences, no code to write or compile.
What that means for you¶
You're building AI agents — give agents governed MCP tools without writing handlers, and send the model exactly the context a task needs. → Context engineering tutorial
You own a sprawl of APIs, microservices, or a monolith — put a clean, governed contract in front of messy or legacy endpoints. → API reusability tutorial
You want one source of truth for every client — write the domain once and serve it as REST, MCP, and Skill from the same spec. → Use cases
See Who is it for? for the full persona map.
Key features at a glance¶
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| Spec-Driven Integration | Declare capabilities entirely in YAML — no Java required |
| Multi-Protocol Servers | Expose capabilities via MCP, Skill, REST, or Control |
| Data Format Conversion | Protobuf, XML, YAML, CSV, TSV, PSV, Avro, HTML, Markdown → JSON |
| HTTP API Consumption | Bearer, API key, basic, digest, OAuth 2.1 auth out of the box |
| Templating & Querying | Mustache templates and JSONPath expressions for flexible data mapping |
| Inline Scripting | Sandboxed JavaScript, Python, or Groovy steps via GraalVM |
| Domain-Driven Aggregates | Define reusable functions once, reference from multiple adapters |
| OpenAPI Interoperability | Import Swagger 2.0, OAS 3.0/3.1; export REST adapters as OpenAPI |
| Cloud-Native Operations | OTel tracing, RED metrics, Prometheus scrape, single Docker image |
| AI Native | Designed for context engineering and agent orchestration |
For the full feature list see Features.
What it is not¶
- Not a code generator. No source files are produced. The spec is the artifact and the runtime contract.
- Not a workflow engine. Multi-step orchestration is supported, but long-running workflows, schedules, and durable state are out of scope.
- Not a service mesh. Ikanos focuses on the application contract; mesh features (mTLS between services, traffic shifting) live below it.
Continue reading¶
- Installation — install via Docker or native binary
- Use Cases — typical integration scenarios
- Spec — the full reference for every keyword
- Linting Guide — pair Ikanos with Polychro
- Roadmap — what's coming in upcoming releases
