Micronaut framework at Kestra

Loic Mathieu, Lead Software Engineer at Kestra, shared with us how they use the Micronaut framework at Kestra. We published “Micronaut Framework at Kestra” success story.

But as enjoyable as it is for us to learn the framework usage within a company, it is as interesting to learn why technology is adopted and how they see the future ahead:

Loic Mathieu, Lead Software Engineer at Kestra:

Why Micronaut framework?

When we started building Kestra over five years ago, we were setting out to redefine orchestration for modern workflows. At its core, Kestra is a universal orchestration platform designed to handle everything from data pipelines to microservices, infrastructure automation, and beyond. Our goal was to create a developer-friendly solution that would simplify the management of complex workflows, regardless of scale or system complexity.

Our CTO and Co-Founder, with a strong scripting background, was clear about one thing—we needed something modern, efficient, and purpose-built for the cloud. Building such a platform required a foundation that could keep up with our ambitions:

• Be lightweight to minimize resource usage.
• Start up fast, given the dynamic nature of workflows.
• Handle reactive, non-blocking operations for high-concurrency workloads.
• Align with our vision of a cloud-native orchestration system.

At the time, Micronaut framework was relatively new, but it showed immense promise. Unlike legacy frameworks that relied heavily on runtime reflection (a performance bottleneck), Micronaut framework generated the necessary metadata at compile time, ensuring better efficiency. This was crucial for Kestra, where every CPU cycle matters when orchestrating large-scale tasks.

Micronaut framework’s ability to combine a small memory footprint, fast startup times, and modern reactive principles made it an ideal match for Kestra’s needs. It gave us the freedom to focus on building an orchestration platform that could tackle the most demanding workflows while delivering a top-notch developer experience.

Micronaut: A Framework That Grows with Kestra

Choosing Micronaut framework in 2019 was a calculated decision that has stood the test of time. Today, it remains at the heart of Kestra, enabling us to:

• Scale workflows for organizations of all sizes.
• Maintain high performance while supporting growing workloads.
• Innovate with a modular and flexible architecture that evolves with our platform.

Micronaut framework’s lightweight, reactive foundation lets us focus on what matters—building a robust, scalable orchestration platform that developers trust. With Micronaut  framework powering Kestra, we’ve created a tool that doesn’t just keep up with modern workflows but sets the standard for orchestration at scale.

Kestra continues to evolve, and with frameworks like Micronaut framework, we’re ready for whatever comes next.