Cinc: Infrastructure Automation Ledger 2026 Scorecard

Part of the Infrastructure Automation Ledger (edition 2026-10-16). How the scores work: methodology.

Snapshot

Type: community project (rebuilds of Chef Infra Client, InSpec, Workstation and Infra Server)
Owner: the Cinc Project, volunteers; builds hosted by the OSU Open Source Lab; legal entity and funding not found
Engine: Chef Infra Client and InSpec source, Apache 2.0
Licence: Apache 2.0, no EULA, no node limit; no commercial support found
Latest release: Cinc Client 19.3.14 (2026-05-22) and 18.11.11 (2026-07-15) by download listing dates; upstream 19.4 not yet rebuilt
Support lifecycle: no written policy; platforms are dropped on their endoflife.date dates (policy of 2026-10-11)
Next milestone: Cinc Server 16.0.0 as an independent fork, targeted around November 2026
Targets: Linux, Windows and macOS hosts, the same as Chef Infra Client; no maintained plugin for vSphere, Proxmox VE, Nutanix, Hyper-V, XCP-ng or KubeVirt beyond the Chef knife-vsphere family
Tier: Configuration management
Archetype: Volunteer rebuild, now a fork
Evidence grade: B. Release dates come from the download directory listing dates and the Cinc blog; the GitLab releases page was not readable. Governance and lifecycle are inferred or not found. Capability inherits the Chef dossier where the code is the same.

Scorecard

Dimension	Score	Direction
Capability today	45.4 / 100	higher is better
Momentum since end of 2022	+0.0 points (2019 to 2022: +0.8)	higher is better
Credibility	13.5 / 25	higher is better
Sustainability risk	14.5 / 25	lower is better
Technical lock-in	10.0 / 25	lower is better
Integrator fit	7.5 / 20	higher is better
AI leverage	2.0 / 20	higher is better
Ledger Index	41.6 / 100	balanced weights; see the methodology

Capability by domain, 2015 to today

Scores 0 to 5 against fixed anchors; total is weighted to 100.

Domain (weight)	2015	2019	2022	Today
Provisioning breadth (15)	n/a	1	1	1
Configuration management depth (12)	n/a	4	4	4
State, planning and safety (12)	n/a	2.5	2.5	2.5
Language and authoring (10)	n/a	3.5	3.5	3
Orchestration and self-service (10)	n/a	1.5	1.5	1.5
Scale and control plane (8)	n/a	3	3.5	3.5
Security and compliance (10)	n/a	2	2	2.5
Bare metal and day-2 operations (8)	n/a	1.5	1.5	1.5
Ecosystem and integrations (8)	n/a	3	3	3
AI assistance (7)	n/a	0	0	0
Total / 100	n/a	44.6	45.4	45.4

Year by year: 2019: 44.6 · 2020: 44.6 · 2021: 44.6 · 2022: 45.4 · 2023: 45.4 · 2024: 45.4 · 2025: 45.4 · 2026: 45.4

What moved the score

Year	Domain	Change	Points	Trigger
2022	Scale and control plane	3 → 3.5	+0.8	Cinc Server 14.14.1 stable (2022-04-20); HA cluster guide 2024-12
2026	Language and authoring	3.5 → 3	-1.0	Supermarket deprecated 2026-08-01 (end of life 2027-05-31); Cinc Workstation forked after Workstation went Habitat-only
2026	Security and compliance	2 → 2.5	+1.0	Cinc Client 19.2.12 rebuild: FIPS mode

Direction, 2023 to 2026

Each release item carries one theme and one driver (V vision, C customer need, M market window, U upstream, P portfolio).

Date	Item	Theme	Driver
2024-02	Migration guide from Chef to Cinc published	Ecosystem	C
2024-12	Guide: Cinc Server as a highly available cluster	Scale	C
2026-03	Cinc Client 19.1.164: rebuild of Chef Infra Client 19 LTS	Configuration management	U
2026-03	Cinc Client 19.2.12: rebuild with FIPS mode	Security	U
2026-05	Cinc Client 19.3.14: rebuild of Infra Client 19.3	Packaging	U
2026-06	Cinc Workstation fork reported after Chef Workstation moved to Habitat-only builds	Packaging	M
2026-06	Cinc Server to become an independent fork; 16.0.0 targeted around November 2026 in maintenance mode	Scale	M
2026-10	Platform policy: drop on endoflife.date dates, add new LTS releases once a builder exists	Packaging	C

Centre of gravity: Packaging (3), Scale (2), Ecosystem (1)
Blind spots (no items): Provisioning breadth, State and planning, Language, Orchestration, Bare metal, AI, Licensing
Driver mix: Vision 0%, Customer need 38%, Market window 25%, Upstream 38%, Portfolio 0%
Idea-to-need index: 0.00 (0 = demand-pulled, 1 = thesis-pushed)

Credibility: 13.5 / 25

Criterion	Score	Basis
Cadence	3	Rebuilds follow upstream with a lag of weeks to months; 19.1 to 19.3 within about three months, 19.4 not yet built
Roadmap transparency	3	Blog posts for the Server fork and the platform policy; no dated roadmap
Say-do	3	Server stable shipped in 2022; Server 16.0.0 fork pending; too few dated promises to judge
Velocity	2	Rebuilds by design; no features of its own
Lifecycle stability	2.5	No written lifecycle; a platform policy since 2026-10-11; depends on upstream and volunteers

Sustainability risk: 14.5 / 25 (lower is better)

Criterion	Score	Basis
Maintainer concentration	3.5	Small volunteer team; contributor count not found; the GitLab releases page returned an error
Backer health	3.5	No legal entity or funding found; builds hosted by the OSU Open Source Lab; trademark use coordinated with Progress
Licence-change risk	2	Apache 2.0 rebuild; depends on Progress keeping the Chef source open, which it says it will
Abandonment signs	2.5	Upstream 19.4 (2026-10-14) not yet rebuilt; latest 19.x build from May 2026; the Server fork is pending
Security response	3	Fixes arrive only as rebuilds of upstream releases; no advisory process found

Technical lock-in: 10.0 / 25 (lower is better)

Criterion	Score	Basis
Formats	3	Chef cookbooks and node objects
Export path	2.5	Documented two-way migration with Chef through knife-ec-backup
Stack coupling	1	Omnibus builds on any OS
Hardware / cloud coupling	0.5	None
Skills and tooling coupling	3	Chef skills transfer; a shrinking pool

Integrator fit: 7.5 / 20

Criterion	Score	Basis
Partner programme openness	2	No programme; no support providers found
Multi-tenancy and self-service	1	Server organisations only
API and infrastructure-as-code	3	Chef Server API
Skills and certification	1.5	Community only

AI leverage: 2.0 / 20

How the product uses AI, scored per year like capability. Only GA counts.

Criterion	2019	2022	Today	Latest step
AI code and plan generation	0	0	0	2019: None
AI platform stack	0	0	0	2019: None
AI-assisted operations	0	0	0	2019: None
Agent openness	2	2	2	2019: Chef Server API; no official MCP server

Year by year: 2019: 2 · 2020: 2 · 2021: 2 · 2022: 2 · 2023: 2 · 2024: 2 · 2025: 2 · 2026: 2

AI say-do, 2023 to 2026: 0 AI items announced; 0 GA, 0 still preview, 0 pending, 0 dropped. No AI item has been announced.

Cinc has no AI feature and no MCP server. The agent path is the Chef Server API, and the upstream AI Assistant is a SaaS beta that a rebuild cannot carry.

Reading

Cinc is the free path for a Chef estate: the same source, rebuilt without licence keys, and a documented migration in both directions. It has lagged upstream by weeks to months for seven years, and it now takes on more than rebuilding, because the Chef Infra Server source freezes at the end of October 2026 and Cinc Server 16.0.0 is meant to carry on as an independent fork in maintenance mode. No legal entity, funding or security process is on record. A buyer should watch whether Cinc Server 16.0.0 ships around November 2026 and who signs its releases.

Open questions and items to re-score

Legal entity and funding behind the Cinc Project.
Cinc Client 19 release dates are directory listing dates; whether 19.4 is built.
Whether the Cinc Workstation fork has releases.
Cinc Server 16.0.0 status after November 2026.
Whether Cinc Client 19 builds need a Chef licence key at runtime.
Target mode carries an experimental label until Chef 19.4.4, which Cinc has not rebuilt, so it is not credited here.
First Cinc Client release date: December 2019 is inferred from a blog URL.