<ins> --- title: Common Expression Language in Kubernetes reviewers: - jpbetz - cici37 content_type: concept weight: 35 min-kubernetes-server-version: 1.25 --- <!-- overview --> The [Common Expression Language (CEL)](https://github.com/google/cel-go) is used in the Kubernetes API to declare validation rules, policy rules, and other constraints or conditions. CEL expressions are evaluated directly in the {{< glossary_tooltip text="API server" term_id="kube-apiserver" >}}, making CEL a convenient alternative to out-of-process mechanisms, such as webhooks, for many extensibility use cases. Your CEL expressions continue to execute so long as the control plane's API server component remains available. <!-- body --> ## Language overview The [CEL language](https://github.com/google/cel-spec/blob/master/doc/langdef.md) has a straightforward syntax that is similar to the expressions in C, C++, Java, JavaScript and Go. CEL was designed to be embedded into applications. Each CEL "program" is a single expression that evaluates to a single value. CEL expressions are typically short "one-liners" that inline well into the string fields of Kubernetes API resources. Inputs to a CEL program are "variables". Each Kubernetes API field that contains CEL declares in the API documentation which variables are available to use for that field. For example, in the `x-kubernetes-validations[i].rules` field of CustomResourceDefinitions, the `self` and `oldSelf` variables are available and refer to the previous and current state of the custom resource data to be validated by the CEL expression. Other Kubernetes API fields may declare different variables. See the API documentation of the API fields to learn which variables are available for that field. Example CEL expressions: {{< table caption="Examples of CEL expressions and the purpose of each" >}} | Rule                                                                               | Purpose                                                                           | |------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | `self.minReplicas <= self.replicas && self.replicas <= self.maxReplicas`           | Validate that the three fields defining replicas are ordered appropriately        | | `'Available' in self.stateCounts`                                                  | Validate that an entry with the 'Available' key exists in a map                   | | `(self.list1.size() == 0) != (self.list2.size() == 0)`                             | Validate that one of two lists is non-empty, but not both                         | | `self.envars.filter(e, e.name = 'MY_ENV').all(e, e.value.matches('^[a-zA-Z]*$')`   | Validate the 'value' field of a listMap entry where key field 'name' is 'MY_ENV'  | | `has(self.expired) && self.created + self.ttl < self.expired`                      | Validate that 'expired' date is after a 'create' date plus a 'ttl' duration       | | `self.health.startsWith('ok')`                                                     | Validate a 'health' string field has the prefix 'ok'                              | | `self.widgets.exists(w, w.key == 'x' && w.foo < 10)`                               | Validate that the 'foo' property of a listMap item with a key 'x' is less than 10 | | `type(self) == string ? self == '99%' : self == 42`                                | Validate an int-or-string field for both the the int and string cases             | | `self.metadata.name == 'singleton'`                                                | Validate that an object's name matches a specific value (making it a singleton)   | | `self.set1.all(e, !(e in self.set2))`                                              | Validate that two listSets are disjoint                                           | | `self.names.size() == self.details.size() && self.names.all(n, n in self.details)` | Validate the 'details' map is keyed by the items in the 'names' listSet           | ## CEL community libraries Kubernetes CEL expressions have access to the following CEL community libraries: - CEL standard functions, defined in the [list of standard definitions](https://github.com/google/cel-spec/blob/master/doc/langdef.md#list-of-standard-definitions) - CEL standard [macros](https://github.com/google/cel-spec/blob/v0.7.0/doc/langdef.md#macros) - CEL [extended string function library](https://pkg.go.dev/github.com/google/cel-go/ext#Strings) ## Kubernetes CEL libraries In additional to the CEL community libraries, Kubernetes includes CEL libraries that are available everywhere CEL is used in Kubernetes. ### Kubernetes list library The list library includes `indexOf` and `lastIndexOf`, which work similar to the strings functions of the same names. These functions either the first or last positional index of the provided element in the list. The list library also includes `min`, `max` and `sum`. Sum is supported on all number types as well as the duration type. Min and max are supported on all comparable types. `isSorted` is also provided as a convenience function and is supported on all comparable types. Examples: {{< table caption="Examples of CEL expressions using list library functions" >}} | CEL Expression                                                                     | Purpose                                                   | |------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------------| | `names.isSorted()`                                                                 | Verify that a list of names is kept in alphabetical order | | `items.map(x, x.weight).sum() == 1.0`                                              | Verify that the "weights" of a list of objects sum to 1.0 | | `lowPriorities.map(x, x.priority).max() < highPriorities.map(x, x.priority).min()` | Verify that two sets of priorities do not overlap         | | `names.indexOf('should-be-first') == 1`                                            | Require that the first name in a list if a specific value | See the [Kubernetes List Library](https://pkg.go.dev/k8s.io/apiextensions-apiserver/pkg/apiserver/schema/cel/library#Lists) godoc for more information. ### Kubernetes regex library In addition to the `matches` function provided by the CEL standard library, the regex library provides `find` and `findAll`, enabling a much wider range of regex operations. Examples: {{< table caption="Examples of CEL expressions using regex library functions" >}} | CEL Expression                                              | Purpose                                                  | |-------------------------------------------------------------|----------------------------------------------------------| | `"abc 123".find('[0-9]*')`                                  | Find the first number in a string                        | | `"1, 2, 3, 4".findAll('[0-9]*').map(x, int(x)).sum() < 100` | Verify that the numbers in a string sum to less than 100 | See the [Kubernetes regex library](https://pkg.go.dev/k8s.io/apiextensions-apiserver/pkg/apiserver/schema/cel/library#Regex) godoc for more information. ### Kubernetes URL library To make it easier and safer to process URLs, the following functions have been added: - `isURL(string)` checks if a string is a valid URL according to the [Go's net/url](https://pkg.go.dev/net/url#URL) package. The string must be an absolute URL. - `url(string) URL` converts a string to a URL or results in an error if the string is not a valid URL. Once parsed via the `url` function, the resulting URL object has `getScheme`, `getHost`, `getHostname`, `getPort`, `getEscapedPath` and `getQuery` accessors. Examples: {{< table caption="Examples of CEL expressions using URL library functions" >}} | CEL Expression                                                  | Purpose                                        | |-----------------------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------| | `url('https://example.com:80/').getHost()`                      | Get the 'example.com:80' host part of the URL. | | `url('https://example.com/path with spaces/').getEscapedPath()` | Returns '/path%20with%20spaces/'               | See the [Kubernetes URL library](https://pkg.go.dev/k8s.io/apiextensions-apiserver/pkg/apiserver/schema/cel/library#URLs) godoc for more information. ## Type checking CEL is a [gradually typed language](https://github.com/google/cel-spec/blob/master/doc/langdef.md#gradual-type-checking). Some Kubernetes API fields contain fully type checked CEL expressions. For example, [CustomResourceDefinitions Validation Rules](/docs/tasks/extend-kubernetes/custom-resources/custom-resource-definitions/#validation-rules) are fully type checked. Some Kubernetes API fields contain partially type checked CEL expressions. A partially type checked expression is an experessions where some of the variables are statically typed but others are dynamically typed. For example, in the CEL expressions of [ValidatingAdmissionPolicies](/docs/reference/access-authn-authz/validating-admission-policy/) the `request` variable is typed, but the `object` variable is dynamically typed. As a result, an expression containing `request.namex` would fail type checking because the `namex` field is not defined. However, `object.namex` would pass type checking even when the `namex` field is not defined for the resource kinds that `object` refers to, because `object` is dynamically typed. The `has()` macro in CEL may be used in CEL expressions to check if a field of a dynamically typed variable is accessable before attempting to access the field's value. For example: ```cel has(object.namex) ? object.namex == 'special' : request.name == 'special' ``` ## Type system integration {{< table caption="Table showing the relationship between OpenAPIv3 types and CEL types" >}} | OpenAPIv3 type                                     | CEL type                                                                                                                     | |----------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 'object' with Properties                           | object / "message type" (`type(<object>)` evaluates to `selfType<uniqueNumber>.path.to.object.from.self`                     | | 'object' with AdditionalProperties                 | map                                                                                                                          | | 'object' with x-kubernetes-embedded-type           | object / "message type", 'apiVersion', 'kind', 'metadata.name' and 'metadata.generateName' are implicitly included in schema | | 'object' with x-kubernetes-preserve-unknown-fields | object / "message type", unknown fields are NOT accessible in CEL expression                                                 | | x-kubernetes-int-or-string                         | union of int or string,  `self.intOrString < 100 || self.intOrString == '50%'` evaluates to true for both `50` and `"50%"` | | 'array                                             | list                                                                                                                         | | 'array' with x-kubernetes-list-type=map            | list with map based Equality & unique key guarantees                                                                         | | 'array' with x-kubernetes-list-type=set            | list with set based Equality & unique entry guarantees                                                                       | | 'boolean'                                          | boolean                                                                                                                      | | 'number' (all formats)                             | double                                                                                                                       | | 'integer' (all formats)                            | int (64)                                                                                                                     | | _no equivalent_                                    | uint (64)                                                                                                                    | | 'null'                                             | null_type                                                                                                                    | | 'string'                                           | string                                                                                                                       | | 'string' with format=byte (base64 encoded)         | bytes                                                                                                                        | | 'string' with format=date                          | timestamp (google.protobuf.Timestamp)                                                                                        | | 'string' with format=datetime                      | timestamp (google.protobuf.Timestamp)                                                                                        | | 'string' with format=duration                      | duration (google.protobuf.Duration)                                                                                          | Also see: [CEL types](https://github.com/google/cel-spec/blob/v0.6.0/doc/langdef.md#values), [OpenAPI types](https://swagger.io/specification/#data-types), [Kubernetes Structural Schemas](/docs/tasks/extend-kubernetes/custom-resources/custom-resource-definitions/#specifying-a-structural-schema). Equality comparison for arrays with `x-kubernetes-list-type` of `set` or `map` ignores element order. For example `[1, 2] == [2, 1]` if the arrays represent Kubernetes `set` values. Concatenation on arrays with `x-kubernetes-list-type` use the semantics of the list type: - `set`: `X + Y` performs a union where the array positions of all elements in `X` are preserved and non-intersecting elements in `Y` are appended, retaining their partial order. - `map`: `X + Y` performs a merge where the array positions of all keys in `X` are preserved but the values are overwritten by values in `Y` when the key sets of `X` and `Y` intersect. Elements in `Y` with non-intersecting keys are appended, retaining their partial order. ## Escaping Only Kubernetes resource property names of the form `[a-zA-Z_.-/][a-zA-Z0-9_.-/]*` are accessible from CEL. Accessible property names are escaped according to the following rules when accessed in the expression: {{< table caption="Table of CEL identifier escaping rules" >}} | escape sequence   | property name equivalent                                                                     | |-------------------|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | `__underscores__` | `__`                                                                                         | | `__dot__`         | `.`                                                                                          | | `__dash__`        | `-`                                                                                          | | `__slash__`       | `/`                                                                                          | | `__{keyword}__`   | [CEL **RESERVED** keyword](https://github.com/google/cel-spec/blob/v0.6.0/doc/langdef.md#syntax) | When you escape any of CEL's **RESERVED** keywords you need to match the exact property name use the underscore escaping (for example, `int` in the word `sprint` would not be escaped and nor would it need to be). Examples on escaping: {{< table caption="Examples escaped CEL identifiers" >}} | property name | rule with escaped property name   | |---------------|-----------------------------------| | `namespace`   | `self.__namespace__ > 0`          | | `x-prop`      | `self.x__dash__prop > 0`          | | `redact__d`   | `self.redact__underscores__d > 0` | | `string`      | `self.startsWith('kube')`         | ## Resource constraints CEL is non-Turing complete and offers a variety of production safety controls to limit execution time. CEL's _resource constraint_ features provide feedback to developers about expression complexity and help protect the API server from excessive resource consumption during evaluation. CEL's resource constraint features are used to prevent CEL evaluation from consuming excessive API server resources. A key element of the resource constraint features is a _cost unit_ that CEL defines as a way of tracking CPU utilization. Cost units are independant of system load and hardware. Cost units are also deterministic; for any given CEL expression and input data, evaluation of the expression by the CEL interpreter will always result in the same cost. Many of CEL's core operations have fixed costs. The simplest operations, such as comparisons (e.g. `<`) have a cost of 1. Some have a higher fixed cost, for example list literal declarations have a fixed base cost of 40 cost units. Calls to functions implemented in native code approximate cost based on the time complexity of the operation. For example: operations that use regular expressions, such as `match` and `find`, are estimated using an approximated cost of `length(regexString)*length(inputString)`. The approximated cost reflects the worst case time complexity of Go's RE2 implementation. ### Runtime cost budget All CEL expressions evaluated by Kubernetes are constrained by a runtime cost budget. The runtime cost budget is an estimate of actual CPU utilization computed by incrementing a cost unit counter while interpreting a CEL expression. If the CEL interpreter executes too many instructions, the runtime cost budget will be exceeded, execution of the expressions will be halted, and an error will result. Some Kubernetes resources define an additional runtime cost budget that bounds the execution of multiple expressions. If the sum total of the cost of expressions exceed the budget, execution of the expressions will be halted, and an error will result. For example the validation of a custom resource has a _per-validation_ runtime cost budget for all [Validation Rules](https://kubernetes.io/docs/tasks/extend-kubernetes/custom-resources/custom-resource-definitions/#validation-rules) evaluated to validate the custom resource. ### Estimated cost limits For some Kubernetes resources, the API server may also check if worst case estimated running time of CEL expressions would be prohibitively expensive to execute. If so, the API server prevent the CEL expression from being written to API resources by rejecting create or update operations containing the CEL expression to the API resources. This feature offers a stronger assurance that CEL expressions written to the API resource will be evaluate at runtime without exceeding the runtime cost budget. </ins>  No newline at end of file