From 2d535bf5ec3cce489fbaf16b0a4845cba90c297c Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Mike Thomas <78363703+mike-j-thomas@users.noreply.github.com> Date: Sat, 16 May 2026 01:44:33 +0900 Subject: [PATCH] Align the README with Fleet's current positioning (#45218) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Resolves https://github.com/fleetdm/confidential/issues/15906 Rewrite README to align with Fleet's current positioning. Key changes: - Rewrote "What's it for?" to lead with MDM, remove company names, and avoid osquery terminology - Moved "Is it any good?" above "Lighter than air" so readers see production credibility and capabilities before philosophy - Restructured "Is it any good?" subsections to reflect top buying reasons and align with [why-fleet?](https://fleetdm.com/docs/get-started/why-fleet) - Consolidated Chat section with link to fleetdm.com/support - Removed Twitter/X Follow badge from Contributing - Removed "The landscape of IT and cybersecurity" tagline from Contributing - Toned down "What's next?" opener - Moved tagline below the image - ~6% shorter overall, while adding substance (741 → ~720 words) --- README.md | 78 +++++++++++++++++++++---------------------------------- 1 file changed, 30 insertions(+), 48 deletions(-) diff --git a/README.md b/README.md index 13907b58b5..d20a16c7b6 100644 --- a/README.md +++ b/README.md @@ -1,32 +1,30 @@

Fleet logo, landscape, dark text, transparent background

+#### [News](https://fleetdm.com/announcements)   ·   [Report a bug](https://github.com/fleetdm/fleet/issues/new)   ·   [Docs](https://fleetdm.com/docs)   ·   [Why open source?](https://fleetdm.com/handbook/company/why-this-way#why-open-source)   ·   [Art](https://fleetdm.com/logos) -#### [News](https://fleetdm.com/announcements)   ·   [Report a bug](https://github.com/fleetdm/fleet/issues/new)   ·   [Handbook](https://fleetdm.com/handbook/company)   ·   [Why open source?](https://fleetdm.com/handbook/company/why-this-way#why-open-source)   ·   [Art](https://fleetdm.com/logos) - - -Open-source platform for IT and security teams with thousands of computers. Designed for APIs, GitOps, webhooks, YAML, and humans. +Open-source platform for IT and security teams with thousands of computers. Designed for APIs, GitOps, webhooks, YAML, and humans. A glass city in the clouds - ## What's it for? -Organizations like Fastly and Gusto use Fleet for vulnerability reporting, detection engineering, device management (MDM), device health monitoring, posture-based access control, managing unused software licenses, and more. +Fleet gives you a single system to secure and maintain all your computing devices over the air. You can do MDM, patch stuff, deploy software, and verify anything, all from one place, across every OS your organization uses. -#### Explore data -To see what kind of data you can use Fleet to gather, check out the [table reference documentation](https://fleetdm.com/tables). +Fleet works directly with data and events from the native operating system, down to the bare metal. Strong diagnostics let you investigate errors on end-user devices and collect accurate audit evidence in minutes. -#### Out-of-the-box policies -Fleet includes out-of-the box support for all [CIS benchmarks for macOS and Windows](https://fleetdm.com/docs/using-fleet/cis-benchmarks), as well as many [simpler queries](https://fleetdm.com/queries). +## Get started -Take as much or as little as you need for your organization. +You can [try Fleet out for yourself](https://fleetdm.com/pricing), or [grab time](https://fleetdm.com/contact) with one of the maintainers to chat. + +## Is it any good? +Fleet is used in production by IT and security teams managing thousands of devices. Many deployments support tens of thousands of hosts, and a few large organizations manage 400,000 or more. #### Supported platforms -Here are the platforms Fleet currently supports: - Linux (all distros) - macOS - Windows - Chromebooks +- iOS and Android (BYOD or corporate-owned) - Amazon Web Services (AWS) - Google Cloud (GCP) - Azure (Microsoft cloud) @@ -34,60 +32,44 @@ Here are the platforms Fleet currently supports: - Containers (kube, etc) - Linux-based IoT devices -## Lighter than air -Fleet is lightweight and modular. You can use it for security without using it for MDM, and vice versa. You can turn off features you are not using. +#### Infrastructure as code +Manage your fleet with [GitOps](https://fleetdm.com/docs/configuration/yaml-files), or use the GUI, REST API, webhook events, and the [fleetctl command-line tool](https://fleetdm.com/download). -#### Openness -Fleet is dedicated to flexibility, accessibility, and clarity. We think [everyone can contribute](https://fleetdm.com/handbook/company#openness) and that tools should be as easy as possible for everyone to understand. +#### Linux support +First-class support for all major distros. Linux gets the same attention and visibility as macOS and Windows. + +#### Visibility and compliance +Fleet can report on hundreds of attributes across your devices and ships with [CIS benchmarks for macOS and Windows](https://fleetdm.com/docs/using-fleet/cis-benchmarks) and comprehensive operating system, hardware, and software data. Check out the [table reference documentation](https://fleetdm.com/tables) to see what's available. + +#### Open by design +Fleet is open source and transparent about what it can and can't see. End users can verify exactly how the agent works and what data their company collects. Fleet collects only the data needed to manage and secure devices, not private activity like keystrokes, emails, or webcams. #### Good neighbors -Fleet has no ambition to replace all of your other tools. (Though it might replace some, if you want it to.) Ready-to-use, enterprise-friendly integrations exist for Snowflake, Splunk, GitHub Actions, Vanta, Elastic Jira, Zendesk, and more. +Ready-to-use, enterprise-friendly [integrations](https://fleetdm.com/integrations) exist for Snowflake, Splunk, GitHub Actions, Vanta, Elastic Jira, Zendesk, and more. Fleet also works with tools such as Munki, Chef, Puppet, Ansible, CrowdStrike, and SentinelOne. -Fleet plays well with Munki, Chef, Puppet, and Ansible, as well as with security tools like Crowdstrike and SentinelOne. For example, you can use the free version of Fleet to quickly report on what hosts are _actually_ running your EDR agent. +#### Lighter than air +Fleet is lightweight and modular. You can use it for MDM without using it for security, and vice versa. You can turn off features you are not using. #### Free as in free -The free version of Fleet will [always be free](https://fleetdm.com/pricing). Fleet is [independently backed](https://linkedin.com/company/fleetdm) and actively maintained with the help of many amazing [contributors](https://github.com/fleetdm/fleet/graphs/contributors). +The free version of Fleet will [always be free](https://fleetdm.com/pricing). Fleet is [independently backed](https://linkedin.com/company/fleetdm) and actively maintained with the help of many amazing [contributors](https://github.com/fleetdm/fleet/graphs/contributors). #### Longevity -The [company behind Fleet](https://fleetdm.com/handbook/company) is founded (and majority-owned) by [true believers in open source](https://fleetdm.com/handbook/company/why-this-way#why-open-source). The company's business model is influenced by GitLab (NYSE: GTLB), with great investors, happy customers, and the capacity to become profitable at any time. - -In keeping with Fleet's value of openness, [Fleet Device Management's company handbook](https://fleetdm.com/handbook/company) is public and open source. You can read about the [history of Fleet and osquery](https://fleetdm.com/handbook/company#history) and our commitment to improving the product. - - - - -## Is it any good? -Fleet is used in production by IT and security teams with thousands of laptops and servers. Many deployments support tens of thousands of hosts, and a few large organizations manage deployments as large as 400,000+ hosts. - +The [company behind Fleet](https://fleetdm.com/handbook/company) is founded (and majority-owned) by [true believers in open source](https://fleetdm.com/handbook/company/why-this-way#why-open-source). The company's business model is influenced by GitLab (NYSE: GTLB), with great investors, happy customers, and the capacity to become profitable at any time. +Fleet Device Management's [company handbook](https://fleetdm.com/handbook/company) is public and open source. You can read about the [history of Fleet](https://fleetdm.com/handbook/company#history) and our commitment to improving the product. ## Chat -Please join us in [MacAdmins Slack](https://www.macadmins.org/) or in [osquery Slack](https://fleetdm.com/slack). +The Fleet community is full of [kind and helpful people](https://fleetdm.com/handbook/company#empathy). Whether or not you are a paying customer, if you need help, just [reach out](https://fleetdm.com/support). -The Fleet community is full of [kind and helpful people](https://fleetdm.com/handbook/company#empathy). Whether or not you are a paying customer, if you need help, just ask. +## Contributing   [![Go Report Card](https://goreportcard.com/badge/github.com/fleetdm/fleet)](https://goreportcard.com/report/github.com/fleetdm/fleet)   [![CII Best Practices](https://bestpractices.coreinfrastructure.org/projects/5537/badge)](https://bestpractices.coreinfrastructure.org/projects/5537)   - -## Contributing   [![Go Report Card](https://goreportcard.com/badge/github.com/fleetdm/fleet)](https://goreportcard.com/report/github.com/fleetdm/fleet)   [![CII Best Practices](https://bestpractices.coreinfrastructure.org/projects/5537/badge)](https://bestpractices.coreinfrastructure.org/projects/5537)   [![Twitter Follow](https://img.shields.io/twitter/follow/fleetctl.svg?style=social&maxAge=3600)](https://twitter.com/fleetctl)   - -The landscape of cybersecurity and IT is too complex. Let's open it up. - -Contributions are welcome, whether you answer questions on [Slack](https://fleetdm.com/slack) / [GitHub](https://github.com/fleetdm/fleet/issues) / [StackOverflow](https://stackoverflow.com/search?q=osquery) / [LinkedIn](https://linkedin.com/company/fleetdm) / [Twitter](https://twitter.com/fleetctl), improve the documentation or [website](./website), write a tutorial, give a talk at a conference or local meetup, give an [interview on a podcast](https://fleetdm.com/podcasts), troubleshoot reported issues, or [submit a patch](https://fleetdm.com/docs/contributing/contributing). The Fleet code of conduct is [on GitHub](https://github.com/fleetdm/fleet/blob/main/CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md). +Contributions are welcome, whether you answer questions on [Slack](https://fleetdm.com/slack) / [GitHub](https://github.com/fleetdm/fleet/issues) / [LinkedIn](https://linkedin.com/company/fleetdm), improve the documentation or [website](./website), write a tutorial, give a talk at a conference or local meetup, give an [interview on a podcast](https://fleetdm.com/podcasts), troubleshoot reported issues, or [submit a patch](https://fleetdm.com/docs/contributing/contributing). The Fleet code of conduct is [on GitHub](https://github.com/fleetdm/fleet/blob/main/CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md). -## What's next? -To see what Fleet can do, head over to [fleetdm.com](https://fleetdm.com) and try it out for yourself, grab time with one of the maintainers to discuss, or visit the docs and roll it out to your organization. - -#### Production deployment -Fleet is simple enough to [spin up for yourself](https://fleetdm.com/docs/get-started/tutorials-and-guides). Or you can have us [host it for you](https://fleetdm.com/pricing). Premium features are [available](https://fleetdm.com/pricing) either way. - -#### Documentation -Complete documentation for Fleet can be found at [https://fleetdm.com/docs](https://fleetdm.com/docs). - - ## License -The free version of Fleet is available under the MIT license. The commercial license is also designed to allow contributions to paid features for users whose employment agreements allow them to contribute to open source projects. (See LICENSE.md for details.) +The free version of Fleet is available under the MIT license. The commercial license is also designed to allow contributions to paid features for users whose employment agreements allow them to contribute to open source projects. (See LICENSE.md for details.) > Fleet is built on [osquery](https://github.com/osquery/osquery), [nanoMDM](https://github.com/micromdm/nanomdm), [Nudge](https://github.com/macadmins/nudge), and [swiftDialog](https://github.com/swiftDialog/swiftDialog).