Formae’s Multi-Cloud Leap: Platform Engineering Labs Arms Builders Against IaC Gridlock

Platform Engineering Labs, a New York-based startup targeting the frustrations of modern cloud operations, unveiled a pivotal upgrade to its open-source infrastructure-as-code platform formae on January 28, 2026. The release introduces beta support for Google Cloud Platform, Microsoft Azure, Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, and OVHcloud, expanding beyond its initial Amazon Web Services focus launched in October 2025. This evolution transforms formae from a niche tool into an extensible foundation for infrastructure teams navigating hybrid and multi-provider setups.

At the heart of the update is a new Plugin SDK, enabling engineers to craft custom extensions in hours rather than weeks or months required by rivals like Terraform or OpenTofu. “This is the release where formae really opens up,” said Pavlo Baron, co-founder and CEO of Platform Engineering Labs, in the announcement PRWeb press release . “We’re covering the major clouds teams run on today, and we’re making it straightforward to extend formae for everything else.”

The platform’s agentic design automatically discovers resources across clouds, codifying them into versioned PKL code—Apple’s open-sourced configuration language—without manual state files or migrations. This addresses a core pain point: drift between code and reality, which plagues traditional IaC tools in distributed environments.

Breaking Free from Single-Cloud Shackles

SiliconANGLE reported the expansion as a strategic push beyond AWS, noting that existing platforms force teams to “stitch together integrations and fix outages from multicloud complexity” here . Formae’s schema-safe plugins ensure consistent behavior, decoupling changes from fragile vendor dependencies. Platform Engineering Labs’ GitHub repository, now at version 0.80.0, hosts the code under the Functional Source License, with documentation at docs.formae.io .

Initial coverage from InfoQ in October 2025 positioned formae as challenging Terraform’s dominance by starting “from reality, not from an idealized plan,” per Baron InfoQ article . The update fulfills early roadmaps teased in FAUN.pub, which highlighted plans for broader cloud compatibility and Kubernetes integration FAUN.pub post .

Industry observers on X echoed the momentum. Platform Engineering Labs posted: “We just released formae 0.80.0: Plugin SDK – build on formae, your own plugins in hours. Beta support for GCP, Azure, OCI, and OVHCloud,” linking to their blog X post . SiliconANGLE amplified it, signaling early buzz among DevOps circles.

Plugin Power Redefines Extensibility

“We wanted extending formae to feel like writing real software, not fighting a provider framework,” said Zachary Schneider, co-founder and CTO, in the PRWeb release. The SDK provides a stable interface compatible with AI agents, allowing rapid iteration on custom providers for on-premises systems or niche clouds. This builder-centric approach contrasts with Terraform’s provider ecosystem, often criticized for slow development cycles.

Formae’s architecture leverages PKL for type-safe declarations, enabling granular patches—update a single field without redeploying stacks—reducing blast radius in production changes. GitHub details emphasize co-existence with tools like Terraform or ClickOps, auto-syncing external modifications into code GitHub repo .

Platform Engineering’s own site underscores continuous mapping of resources, ensuring “state is reality itself, versioned in code” platform.engineering . Early adopters praise this for eliminating toil, with Marc Schnitzius of codecentric noting it reduces cognitive load across dev and ops teams, as covered in FutureCIO FutureCIO piece .

From AWS Solo to Multi-Cloud Reality

Launched amid IaC fatigue—post-Terraform licensing controversies spawning OpenTofu—formae debuted with AWS support, automatic codification, and no state files. SiliconANGLE’s October 2025 launch story highlighted its discovery of entire estates, creating a “single source of unified truth” SiliconANGLE launch coverage . PivotNine noted initial European ambitions like OVHcloud, now realized PivotNine blog .

The three-month sprint to multi-cloud, per the company’s blog, reflects agile development: from AWS-only to four betas, plus SDK. DZone analysis praises PKL’s role in stateless ops, positioning formae against Pulumi’s programming languages DZone article .

Forbes covered the PKL choice over CNCF’s KCL as “less advanced,” enabling abstractions where seniors build components and juniors consume simplified schemas Forbes feature . This hierarchy suits platform teams scaling to enterprise sprawl.

Real-World Wins and Competitive Edge

Formae sidesteps Terraform’s state drift by agent-based reconciliation: async convergence to targets, minimal risk. DEVOPSdigest lists auto-discovery and patch changes as killers, quoting Baron: “We built formae out of our own pain” DEVOPSdigest . Platformengineering.com lauds no-migration adoption, meeting teams “where you are” Platform Engineering site .

Benefits compound in multi-cloud: unified truth across GCP VMs, Azure blobs, OCI databases, OVH instances. Plugins unlock internals like VMware or custom APIs. Software Plaza interview with Baron details single-field updates, versioning manual dashboard tweaks Software Plaza .

Under FSL 1.1-ALv2, formae balances openness with sustainability—no free-riding hyperscalers. Discord and GitHub foster community, with 126 stars signaling traction. As Baron told ITBrief.asia, it simplifies without complexity ITBrief .

Builders’ Horizon and Ecosystem Momentum

Future vectors include Kubernetes depth, multi-agent distribution, pluggable datastores—per FAUN.pub roadmap. Baron envisions IaC innovation after a decade dormant, per their Medium blog Medium post . Harry Brumleve, Thoughtful Software founder, called it a “shift as fundamental as source control” in DBTA DBTA .

X chatter remains nascent but positive, with SiliconANGLE’s amplification drawing eyes. For insiders, formae’s bet on extensibility via SDK positions it as Terraform’s heir in fragmented clouds. Platform Engineering Labs invites builders: understand your infra, code the plugin, own the stack.