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Apache Knox

Apache Knox is a REST API and application gateway for the Apache Hadoop ecosystem. It provides a single access point for all REST and HTTP interactions with Apache Hadoop clusters, with authentication, authorization, SSO, and audit capabilities. Governed by the Apache Software Foundation under Apache 2.0.

agent ready

Real signal across most facets with visible, nameable gaps — the contract exists but is thin, or the portal is good while governance and commercial terms are absent.

Kin Score

API Evangelist profiles Apache Knox the way a machine reads it — 49 machine-readable artifacts across 4 APIs, pulled from the provider's own public surface and indexed so a developer, an analyst, or an AI agent can evaluate it against every other provider on the network.

Every provider in the network is reduced to the same set of machine-readable artifacts — OpenAPI contracts, event specifications, GraphQL schemas, runnable collections, pricing and rate-limit signals, security posture, OAuth scopes, and the agent surfaces (MCP servers and skills) that let software drive the API on its own. We profile them because the interface is the part of a company you can actually inspect: it is a truer signal of what a provider does than any marketing page. From those artifacts we compute the Kin Score — Apache Knox scores 57.1/100 (developing), with a separate agent-readiness read of 48/100 (agent ready). The full breakdown is below, followed by every artifact we hold — each card links through to its machine-readable definition on apis.io.

Kin Score

This is the API Evangelist rating — a single, repeatable read computed from the artifacts on this page. Green fill is points earned; the red track is points possible, so every bar shows earned-versus-possible at a glance.

Kin Score Kin Score How this is scored →
scored 2026-07-27 · rubric v0.5
Composite quality — 57.1/100 · developing
Contract Quality 15.1 / 25
Developer Ergonomics 6.1 / 20
Commercial Clarity 10.0 / 20
Operational Transparency 6.8 / 13
Governance 10.4 / 12
Discoverability 8.8 / 10
Agent readiness — 48/100 · agent ready
Machine-Readable Contract 18 / 18
Agentic Access Contract 15 / 15
MCP Server 0 / 12
Machine-Readable Auth 10 / 10
Idempotency 0 / 9
Stable Error Semantics 0 / 8
Request/Response Examples 0 / 7
Rate-Limit Signaling 7 / 7
Typed Event Surface 0 / 6
Agent Skills 0 / 5
Well-Known Catalog 0 / 4
Consent & Bot Identity 0 / 3

How we profile Apache Knox

Each block below is one kind of artifact we hold for Apache Knox. For each we say what it is and why it earns a place in the profile, then list every one we've indexed — capped at two rows, scroll within the panel for the rest.

APIs 4

Each API is captured as its own OpenAPI definition — every operation, parameter, and response. This is the single most useful machine-readable description of what an API does, and it's what lets us score, lint, mock, and generate against it without asking the provider for anything.

Individual APIs this provider publishes, each with its own machine-readable definition.

Apache Knox Gateway API

The Knox gateway proxies and secures access to Hadoop ecosystem services including HDFS WebHDFS, Hive, HBase REST, YARN, Oozie, Ambari, and Ranger with authentication and author...

Apache Knox Descriptors API

Simple descriptor management

Apache Knox Providers API

Provider configuration management

Apache Knox Topologies API

Gateway topology management

Pricing Plans 1

Pricing is part of the interface. Machine-readable plans tell you what a tier costs and includes before you commit — one of the six things the Kin Score reads for commercial clarity.

Published pricing tiers and plan structures.

Rate Limits 1

Rate limits are the difference between a demo that works and a production integration that doesn't fall over. Publishing them is an operational-transparency signal — and a hard requirement for any agent that plans its own throughput.

Documented rate limits and quota policies.

Apache Knox Rate Limits

5 limits

RATE LIMITS

FinOps 1

Cost, billing, and metering signals let a buyer model the financial operations of an API before it's live. We profile them for the same reason we profile pricing: the money is part of the contract.

Cost, billing, and metering signals for API financial operations.

Features 8

The notable capabilities this provider advertises, captured as structured features so they can be searched and compared instead of read one landing page at a time.

Notable capabilities this provider offers.

Single Access Point

Unified gateway for all Hadoop REST services eliminating direct cluster access.

Authentication

Kerberos, LDAP, OAuth2, and JWT authentication support.

SSO Integration

SAML2-based SSO and token-based federation across Hadoop services.

Authorization

Fine-grained authorization via Apache Ranger integration.

SSL/TLS Termination

SSL/TLS termination at the gateway for encrypted communication.

Service Discovery

Automatic service discovery via Ambari and Cloudera Manager integration.

Topology Management

Dynamic topology configuration without gateway restarts.

Audit Logging

Comprehensive audit logs for all gateway interactions.

Scroll within the panel for all 8 ·

Semantic Vocabularies 3

JSON-LD contexts give the data shared meaning across APIs. We profile them because semantics are what let a machine reconcile 'customer' here with 'customer' somewhere else.

JSON-LD contexts and semantic vocabularies used across these APIs.

Apache Knox Admin Api Descriptor Context

3 classes · 6 properties

JSON-LD

Apache Knox Admin Api Knox Context

2 classes · 1 properties

JSON-LD

Apache Knox Admin Api Topology Context

3 classes · 4 properties

JSON-LD

Spectral Rules 2

Governance rulesets we run against this provider's specs — the automated checks behind parts of the score. Profiling them makes the quality bar explicit and re-runnable, not a matter of opinion.

Apache Knox API Rules

5 rules · 3 warnings

SPECTRAL

Apache Knox API Rules

16 rules · 9 errors · 6 warnings

SPECTRAL

JSON Schema 5

Standalone JSON Schema definitions describe the data models behind the API. We profile them so the shapes are validatable on their own — useful long after a single request is forgotten.

Standalone JSON Schema definitions for this provider's data models.

DescriptorList

1 properties

JSON SCHEMA

Descriptor

6 properties

JSON SCHEMA

KnoxVersion

2 properties

JSON SCHEMA

TopologyList

1 properties

JSON SCHEMA

Topology

3 properties

JSON SCHEMA

JSON Structure 5

JSON Structure captures the data shapes in a form built for tooling — a complement to JSON Schema that keeps the model machine-legible.

JSON Structure definitions describing this provider's data shapes.

Admin Api Descriptor List Structure

1 properties

JSON STRUCTURE

Admin Api Descriptor Structure

6 properties

JSON STRUCTURE

Admin Api Knox Version Structure

2 properties

JSON STRUCTURE

Admin Api Topology List Structure

1 properties

JSON STRUCTURE

Admin Api Topology Structure

3 properties

JSON STRUCTURE

Examples 5

Real request and response payloads are what turn a spec from abstract into obvious — and they're one of the twelve things an agent needs to call an API correctly on the first try.

Example request and response payloads for these APIs.

Security Posture 3

Authentication, domain security, vulnerability disclosure, and trust-center signals — the evidence that a provider takes security seriously enough to document it. We profile it because you can't govern what you can't see.

Authentication, domain security, vulnerability disclosure, and trust-center signals.

Apache Knox Authentication

http · 1 scheme

SECURITY

Apache Knox Domain Security

TLSv1.3 · HSTS · DMARC

SECURITY

Apache Knox Vulnerability Disclosure

security.txt · contact published

SECURITY

Agentic Access 1

An x-agentic-access contract marks which operations are safe for an agent to run on its own and which need a human in the loop. It is the difference between an API an agent can use and one it can use safely.

Recommended x-agentic-access execution contracts for AI agents.

Apache Knox Agentic Access

12 operations · 5 acting

12 operations · 5 acting

AGENTIC

Use Cases 4

What developers actually build with this provider — captured so the catalogue answers 'what is this for', not just 'what does this expose'.

What developers build with this provider.

Hadoop Cluster Security

Secure and centralize access to all Hadoop REST APIs through Knox.

Cloud Hadoop Access

Provide secure REST access to EMR, HDInsight, and Dataproc clusters.

Hadoop SSO

Enable single sign-on across Ambari, Hue, Spark UI, and other Hadoop UIs.

REST API Proxying

Proxy WebHDFS, Hive JDBC/REST, HBase REST, and YARN REST through Knox.

Integrations 6

Pre-built integrations with other platforms tell you where this provider already fits in a stack.

Pre-built integrations with other platforms and tools.

Apache Hadoop HDFS

WebHDFS REST API proxied and secured through Knox.

Apache Hive

Hive JDBC and REST API access via Knox gateway.

Apache HBase

HBase REST API proxied through Knox with authentication.

Apache Ranger

Authorization policy enforcement via Ranger Knox plugin.

Apache Ambari

Ambari REST API proxied through Knox for cluster management.

{"type"=>"Blog", "url"=>"https://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/KNOX/News"}

Resources

Every other property we hold for Apache Knox — documentation, portals, status pages, policies, and corporate surface — grouped by the job it does, following the integrator's arc from getting started to running in production.

Get Started 1

Portal, sign-up, and the first successful call

Documentation 1

Reference material describing how the API behaves

Agent Surfaces 1

MCP servers, agent skills, and machine-readable catalogs

Design & Contract 3

Pagination, idempotency, versioning, errors, and events

Build 2

SDKs, sample code, and the tooling you integrate with

Commercial 1

Pricing, plans, and the legal terms of use

← All providers · Data indexed from github.com/api-evangelist/apache-knox · machine-readable index on apis.io