Install otterdog with Homebrew

Project links

• Homepage
• Repository
• Upstream docs
• Package manager page

Commands and aliases

• otterdog

Project history

Otterdog was developed by the Eclipse Foundation security team to manage GitHub organizations at scale. Eclipse documentation describes it as infrastructure as code for GitHub organizations, with configuration stored in each enabled organization's repository and changes applied with the otterdog CLI.

The project moved from Eclipse's GitLab namespace to the eclipse-csi GitHub organization; the old GitLab page marks that repository obsolete and points new development to GitHub. The GitHub README describes Otterdog as a tool the Eclipse Foundation uses for numerous GitHub-hosted projects.

Adoption history

A May 2023 Eclipse JDT mailing-list post explains the rollout motivation: project leads can submit configuration PRs, automated feedback describes planned changes, Eclipse security staff approve and apply them, and the setup helps monitor security-related organization settings at scale while reducing help-desk load.

The public eclipse-csi/.eclipsefdn configuration repository and dashboard show Otterdog's self-service model in practice: configuration lives in a repository, documentation points contributors to Otterdog, and a dashboard exposes the effective configuration and a Jsonnet playground.

How it is used

Administrators install the CLI, define an otterdog.jsonnet or otterdog.json configuration, connect organization credentials through plain, pass, or Bitwarden-backed providers, and run operations such as import, plan, apply, validate, fetch-config, push-config, show-live, and list-members.

Non-administrator project contributors usually interact with Otterdog through pull requests against the configuration repository. That workflow makes GitHub settings reviewable and auditable in the same style as infrastructure code.

Why package nerds care

otterdog is notable because it packages GitHub organization governance as a CLI instead of a dashboard-only process. For package nerds, it is a concrete example of configuration-as-code moving upward from servers and clusters into source-hosting administration.

Timeline

• 31 May 2023: Eclipse's JDT mailing list described Otterdog setup for an Eclipse GitHub organization and explained the planned self-service workflow.
• 2026: The GitLab project page pointed new development to github.com/eclipse-csi/otterdog.
• 30 June 2026: The GitHub repository listed Otterdog v1.3.4 as a release.

Related projects

• Otterdog is related to Eclipse Foundation GitHub operations, eclipse-csi configuration repositories, Jsonnet-based configuration, GitHub organization policy management, and infrastructure-as-code tools such as Terraform or OpenTofu that address adjacent GitHub administration problems.

Sources

• https://eclipse-csi.github.io/.eclipsefdn/
• https://github.com/eclipse-csi/.eclipsefdn
• https://github.com/eclipse-csi/otterdog
• https://gitlab.eclipse.org/eclipsefdn/security/otterdog
• https://otterdog.readthedocs.io/en/latest/
• https://otterdog.readthedocs.io/en/latest/reference/operations/
• https://www.eclipse.org/lists/jdt-dev/msg02277.html