Choose a Runtime Path
See How Zen Works for the complete product mental model — the plane model, control surfaces, and delivery chain.
Status: PUBLIC_CONTRACT_DRAFT — Paths may have different readiness levels. See each page for status.
Zen Mesh offers several runtime paths depending on your use case, infrastructure, and scale requirements.
Decision Table
| I want to... | Install this | What it gives | Limitations | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lightweight single-node private delivery | Edge Lite | Docker-based, same enrollment bundle, no Kubernetes needed | Single-node production; public image evidence-gated | EVIDENCE_GATED |
| Run edge delivery on my Kubernetes cluster | Kubernetes Edge Plane | Full edge plane with zen-agent, optional ingester/egress | Requires Kubernetes cluster, kubectl access | WIRED_SANDBOX |
| Deploy the full data plane for production workloads | Data Plane | zen-ingester, zen-egress, zen-bridge, retry, replay, DLQ | More infrastructure; requires edge plane | WIRED_SANDBOX |
| Explore the API or inspect docs only | No runtime needed | API access via https://api.zen-mesh.io | No event delivery | PUBLIC_CONTRACT_DRAFT |
Path Descriptions
Edge Lite
Lightweight single-node production tier using Docker. Same enrollment bundle contract as Kubernetes Edge Plane. Designed for DevOps, IaC, and internal tooling. See Edge Lite.
Kubernetes Edge Plane
Full edge plane running in your Kubernetes cluster. zen-agent connects outbound for enrollment and configuration sync. Optional zen-ingester and zen-egress for local event processing. See Kubernetes Edge Plane.
Data Plane
The delivery runtime. Handles event ingestion, routing, retry, replay, and DLQ management. Can be Zen-operated or customer-operated. See Data Plane.