Salt Project

Salt Project is the world's fastest, most intelligent and scalable automation engine. Built on Python, Salt is an event-driven automation tool and framework to deploy, configure, and manage complex IT systems. Originally created by Thomas Hatch and SaltStack, the project was acquired by VMware in 2020, which was later acquired by Broadcom in 2023. Key Features: • Event-driven automation with real-time responsiveness • Scalable architecture supporting thousands of endpoints • Multi-platform support (Windows, Mac, Linux, cloud-native workloads) • Plugin Oriented Programming (POP) paradigm for modular development • Remote execution and complex event processing • Configuration management with state enforcement • Cloud and container orchestration capabilities • Extensive module ecosystem for various technologies Current Status: • Salt v3007.4 is the latest stable release (LTS/STS strategy) • Salt v3008 LTS estimated for release June/July 2025 • Powered by Broadcom's Tanzu Salt (commercial offering) • Used by major vendors including Juniper, Cisco, Cloudflare, Nutanix, SUSE • Active open source community with Discord support Technical Architecture: • Master-minion architecture with secure communication • YAML-based configuration with Jinja templating • REST API for integration and automation • Extensive targeting and execution modules • Built-in security with encrypted communication The Salt Project remains an open source ecosystem that Broadcom supports and contributes to, ensuring code integrity and quality. It serves as the foundation for VMware's Tanzu Salt and powers automation across hybrid and multi-cloud environments.