--- title: What craft means for Canonical description: Why are so many Canonical software tools named "craft"? url: https://canonical.com/blog/what-craft-means-for-canonical?format=md --- 1. [Blog](https://canonical.com/blog) 2. Article --- [Daniele Procida](https://canonical.com/blog/author/danieleprocida "More about Daniele Procida") 6 August 2025 # What craft means for Canonical [craft](https://canonical.com/blog/tag/craft) --- Share the article Last month [Jon Seager](https://jnsgr.uk) (our Vice President for Ubuntu Engineering) [wrote about *crafting* software](https://discourse.ubuntu.com/t/crafting-your-software/64809): > Over the past decade, Canonical has been refining a family of tools called “crafts” to tame [the complexity of packaging software] and make building, testing, and releasing software across ecosystems much simpler. Multiple Canonical products have *craft* in their names: Snapcraft, Charmcraft, Rockcraft (and there are others in the works). Our *craft* products are tools for making software, for the software craftsperson. To be a maker of tools comes with responsibilities – when you decide what tools should be like, you are also deciding how people should work. ## **Skill, power, technology** Why did we choose to refer to *craft*? *Craft* implies artisanal values, work done by humans, skilled work of the hand. Craft is not just an activity, it’s a value too. It’s an excellent word. It comes from the Germanic *kraft* – strength, or power. That makes perfect sense: craft as skill or ability *is* a power. The word *empower* is so overused that it’s in danger of losing its own meaning, but here it really is appropriate: empowering people is what Canonical exists to do through open-source software. In another direction, the ancient Greek word for *craft* is *téchnē*, the root of the modern word *technology*. *Technology* has come to refer to the tools and machinery of industrial society, the hardware and software stuff we make, but it’s a more interesting word than that – technology, literally “the study of skill”: not merely a product of human activity, but a human endeavour itself. So *craft* is a word that reaches in multiple directions. As *kraft*, it draws in meanings of power and empowerment. As *téchnē*, it connects directly to the root of our own industry. Craft is where things that matter and that we passionately care about all come together. It’s a noble kind of word for a meaningful kind of activity. ## **The values of craft** Craft – skill – is obliged to improve itself through practice and reflection. These are fundamental values of craftsmanship, of making and being a maker. Choosing the name *craft* for our software tools signals a sense of obligation and seriousness about what we’re doing. Jon’s article describes a family of tools designed with real intention. They share common interfaces, libraries and workflows – but they also share a common set of values, and that is why *craft* feels like the right concept to associate with the tools we want to put in the hands of software craftspeople. [Read Crafting your software](https://discourse.ubuntu.com/t/crafting-your-software/64809) [Get in touch Interested in running Ubuntu in your organization?](https://ubuntu.com/about/contact-us/form) ## Sign up for our newsletter Get the latest Canonical news and updates in your inbox. Work email: \*I agree to receive information about Canonical's products and services. By submitting this form, I confirm that I have read and agree to [Canonical's Privacy Policy](https://canonical.com/legal/dataprivacy). Sign up ## Share on --- ## Related posts [### What happens in the Craft team stays in the Craft team … until today](https://canonical.com/blog/what-happens-in-the-craft-team-stays-in-the-craft-team-until-today) Snapcraft, Charmcraft, Rockcraft … you may have heard of these tools, but have you ever wondered how – and by who – they are developed? These tools are the intellectual and... [Igor Ljubuncic](https://canonical.com/blog/author/igorljubuncic) 6 March 2023