CoreDNS

CoreDNS is a DNS server written in Go that serves as the default DNS service in Kubernetes, graduated from the Cloud Native Computing Foundation incubator in January 2019. The current version 1.14.2 was released on March 6, 2026. Unlike traditional DNS servers that use static configuration files, the project implements a plugin chain architecture where each plugin performs a specific DNS function such as Kubernetes service discovery, etcd backend integration, Azure DNS, Google Cloud DNS, AWS Route 53 forwarding, Prometheus metrics exporting, query rewriting, zone file serving, caching with prefetch, health checking, and TLS certificate management. Plugins are chained together in the Corefile configuration, with each zone routing requests through its plugin stack in order. The server supports DNS over TLS on port 853, DNS over HTTPS, DNS over QUIC, and gRPC transport in addition to traditional UDP and TCP on port 53. Forwarding plugins support protocol-level load balancing across multiple upstream resolvers with health checks and exponential backoff. Notable deployments include Kubernetes clusters worldwide serving billions of DNS queries daily, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology campus network, Infoblox enterprise DNS infrastructure, SoundCloud music streaming platform, Sky Betting and Gaming real-time wagering systems, Qunar travel booking services in China, and Tradeshift supply chain payments. The project maintains a curated external plugin registry with over 50 community-maintained plugins, and supports custom plugin development through a well-documented Go API. The CoreDNS maintainers include Miek Gieben who created the project in 2016 as a fork of SkyDNS, John Belamaric from Google, and Paul Gierz. Apache License 2.0. Copyright 2026 The CoreDNS Authors, The Linux Foundation.