As the open source Internal Developer Platform guide puts it, “An Internal Developer Platform (IDP) is built by a platform team to build golden paths and enable developer self-service.” It can act as the source of truth or one-stop shop for everything your developers need to get up and running. It also acts as a contract between your platform and application teams. The IDP is the engineers’ self-service layer on top of your infrastructure. It aims for the highest level of developer self-service, and it should speak to both technical and business teams. Ideally, it’s where engineering teams have everything they need to build and operate.