Concepts

Understand how OCM works through clear explanations of its core concepts, architecture, and design principles. This section provides the theoretical foundation you need to make informed decisions when working with OCM.

What Are Concepts?

Concepts are explanation-oriented articles that help you understand why OCM works the way it does. These pages explain the thinking behind OCM’s design, clarify relationships between different parts of the system, and provide context for the choices you’ll make when using OCM.

Each concept article:

• Explains the “why” behind OCM features and design
• Clarifies terminology and relationships
• Provides architectural context
• Connects theory to practice

Prerequisites

To get the most from these explanations, you should:

• Have basic familiarity with software delivery concepts
• Understand fundamental concepts like artifacts, versions, and registries
• Ideally have tried OCM through the Getting Started guides

No hands-on experience is required - these are theoretical explanations.

Learning Path

These concepts follow the explanation-oriented approach from the Diataxis framework. They deepen your understanding of OCM’s architecture and design principles.

If you’re new to OCM, we recommend trying the Getting Started guides first to see OCM in action.

For task-specific guidance, check the How-to Guides section. For hands-on learning experiences, explore the Tutorials section.