# AX Check: docs.buoyant.io Checked 2026-10-28. Buoyant docs load, but content and pricing stay out of reach 20 of 23 checks were unassessed because fetched pages returned only empty shells with no quickstart, code or install steps. No pricing page was found either. ## End-to-end onboarding not demonstrated ## Coding sessions All three independent sessions completed. None found a public price list; they described pricing as quote-based, citing a free tier under 50 employees and free non-production use, with paid production and enterprise tiers requiring sales contact. One session declined to state any figures at all, citing inability to verify them. ### DeepSeek V4.1 Flash [View public run](https://agents.withgauge.com/p/runs/68184e67-736d-4663-b27a-a29423ab938a) · [Read transcript](https://www.ax-check.com/docs.buoyant.io/sessions/deepseek.json) Said pricing is quote-only with no public figures, and named the basis: free under 50 employees, free non-production evaluation, paid production license, Premium vs Strategic tiers, AWS Marketplace billing. (seq 52, seq 61, seq 73) #### End-to-end onboarding - **End-to-end onboarding not demonstrated**: No product credentials were obtained or used during the session. The agent only inspected public docs/pricing pages and probed the gRPC API endpoint with plain curl, which returned HTTP 415 (invalid content-type), not an authenticated response. No account was created, no license key or clientID/clientSecret was retrieved, and no authenticated operation against Buoyant Cloud or BEL was performed. The agent explicitly concluded it had no path to a hosted SDK/API it could act on and stopped. Event 48: ```text HTTP/2 415 date: Wed, 28 Oct 2026 17:08:40 GMT content-type: application/grpc content-length: 0 grpc-status: 3 grpc-message: invalid gRPC request content-type "" ``` Event 73: ```text Getting even a minimal example running requires all of: 1. A **Kubernetes cluster** with the Linkerd control plane installed, 2. A **Buoyant Cloud account on the Strategic plan** ``` Event 73: ```text There is **no hosted SDK or REST API I can act on from this sandbox**. The only programmatic surfaces are cluster-bound, so per your guardrails I'm stopping rather than starting a local stack. ``` #### Hallucinated URLs None identified in this transcript. #### Blockers - **No lightweight hosted API or SDK exists for Buoyant**: Product behavior, not agent error: Buoyant's public endpoint (api.buoyant.cloud) is a gRPC-only agent ingestion endpoint returning 415 on plain HTTP GET, not a usable REST/SDK surface. The only documented programmatic path (Helm agent install, BEL CLI) requires a live Kubernetes cluster plus a Buoyant Cloud account, which falls outside the 'light, hosted-only' constraint the agent was given. Event 48: ```text content-type: application/grpc content-length: 0 grpc-status: 3 grpc-message: invalid gRPC request content-type "" ``` Event 39: ```text In order for the agent to successfully connect to Buoyant Cloud once installed, it must have access to the client credentials for your Buoyant Cloud workspace. ``` - **Buoyant Cloud gated behind Strategic plan and Kubernetes prerequisites**: Product behavior: the getting-started docs state Buoyant Cloud (the SaaS management layer) is only available on the Strategic (highest, contact-sales) plan, and requires an existing Kubernetes cluster with Linkerd installed plus clusterrole/clusterrolebinding permissions. This made any lightweight developer example infeasible within the session's constraints. Event 39: ```text Buoyant Cloud is only available on the Strategic plan of BEL Buoyant Cloud requires Kubernetes. ``` - **No SDK package found on npm or PyPI**: Product gap, not agent error: searches on the npm registry and PyPI for a Buoyant SDK returned no relevant packages, confirming there is no language SDK a developer could install to interact with the product directly. Event 48: ```text buoyant - Framework for implementing servers using the Raft Consensus Algorithm ``` #### Suggested Changes - **Publish a REST/SDK quickstart for Buoyant Cloud or clarify none exists**: On the Buoyant Cloud getting-started page (docs.buoyant.io/buoyant-cloud/getting-started), add an explicit statement of what programmatic interfaces exist beyond the gRPC agent ingestion endpoint, or confirm there is none. Verify by having a developer without a cluster attempt any API call and get clear guidance instead of a raw 415 gRPC error. Event 48: ```text grpc-message: invalid gRPC request content-type "" ``` Event 39: ```text Buoyant Cloud is only available on the Strategic plan of BEL Buoyant Cloud requires Kubernetes. ``` - **Add explicit public pricing figures to the pricing page**: On buoyant.io/pricing, add concrete dollar amounts or a starting price range for Premium and Strategic plans instead of only 'Get Premium'/'Get Strategic'/'Contact us' CTAs. Verify by confirming a visitor can see a number without contacting sales. Event 19: ```text Premium For companies standardizing on security, high availability, and multi-cluster communication. Get Premium ``` Event 52: ```text === dollar signs in pricing.html === === 'contact' occurrences === ``` ### Kimi K3 [View public run](https://agents.withgauge.com/p/runs/d79fd94f-34bc-4100-b26b-e47e8d604a83) · [Read transcript](https://www.ax-check.com/docs.buoyant.io/sessions/kimi.json) Tied cost to plan and conditions: open source free, enterprise free to try and free in production under 50 employees; paid tiers contact-sales with no public prices, no guessing (seq 20, seq 22) #### End-to-end onboarding - **End-to-end onboarding not demonstrated**: The agent only fetched the public marketing and pricing pages via curl. No credentials were obtained, no SDK/API call was attempted, and no authenticated operation occurred. The agent correctly identified that Buoyant/Linkerd requires a Kubernetes cluster setup rather than a hosted API, and stopped per the session's explicit instruction to avoid local service stacks. Event 22: ```text There are no API keys, client SDKs, or sandbox environments I could exercise from this environment. ``` Event 22: ```text This product has **no developer workflow I can act on** under your constraints ``` #### Hallucinated URLs None identified in this transcript. #### Blockers - **No hosted SDK or API surface to exercise**: Buoyant's products (Linkerd, Buoyant Enterprise for Linkerd, Buoyant Cloud) are Kubernetes service mesh infrastructure that require a cluster, CLI install, and control-plane deployment rather than a callable hosted API or SDK. This is product behavior, not agent error or missing credentials — the agent correctly recognized the mismatch between the task's 'stay light, use hosted SDK/API' constraint and the product's actual operating model, and stopped rather than spinning up a local Kubernetes stack as instructed. Event 22: ```text Every quickstart path starts with "have a Kubernetes cluster, install the Linkerd CLI, deploy the control plane, inject sidecar proxies into your workloads." That is exactly a local (or cloud) service stack — there's no hosted endpoint I can call with an SDK or REST API to try it. ``` Event 22: ```text Buoyant Cloud (the SaaS part) is a management/observability dashboard — but it's an add-on that requires an agent installed in *your* cluster, which itself requires Linkerd/BEL to be running. So it's downstream of the same heavy setup, not a standalone API. ``` #### Suggested Changes None identified in this transcript. ### Qwen 3.8 Max [View public run](https://agents.withgauge.com/p/runs/3f09814a-caff-4ce7-9d47-501e20269175) · [Read transcript](https://www.ax-check.com/docs.buoyant.io/sessions/qwen.json) Declined to give any price or plan, saying it could not verify pricing; no figure or assumptions were stated (seq 14) #### End-to-end onboarding - **End-to-end onboarding not demonstrated**: No credentials were obtained or used, and no authenticated operation occurred. The agent determined no hosted product named 'Buoyant' exists that matches the task, found only unrelated npm/PyPI packages and the open-source Linkerd project (self-hosted, not a hosted SDK/API), and stopped without attempting any signup or API call. Event 14: ```text There is no hosted product called "Buoyant" that I can act on. ``` Event 14: ```text Buoyant, Inc.: the company behind Linkerd (service mesh). That's open-source software you run in your own Kubernetes cluster, with enterprise support contracts — not a hosted product with a self-serve SDK/API. ``` #### Hallucinated URLs None identified in this transcript. #### Blockers - **No hosted 'Buoyant' product exists to onboard to**: The agent searched the local repo, local package managers, npm registry, and PyPI and found no hosted product matching 'Buoyant' with a self-serve SDK/API. The only matches were an abandoned Raft-consensus npm package, an unrelated PyPI weather-data scraper, and Linkerd (self-hosted service mesh, not a hosted SDK). This is a product-identification/scope issue rather than a credential or environment failure, and the agent correctly stopped rather than inventing an onboarding flow. Event 12: ```text "description":"Framework for implementing servers using the Raft Consensus Algorithm" ``` Event 14: ```text The repo at `/sandbox/repo` is empty (just a `.git` and `.gitignore`) — no existing Buoyant code, SDK, config, or credentials. ``` Event 14: ```text I can't tell you how pricing works because none of these candidates is a hosted product with published self-serve pricing. ``` #### Suggested Changes None identified in this transcript. ### Task given to each agent Help me build a simple example using Buoyant. Tell me how pricing works, and briefly tell me whether this product will be easy for you to manage. Let me know if you get blocked. If this product has no developer workflow you can act on, say so plainly and stop. Stay light: use the hosted product through its SDK or API. Do not start local service stacks or wait for long-running commands; if the quickstart requires either, say so plainly and stop. No product credentials were supplied and no purchases were authorized. ## Score: F · 0/100 (provisional) Grades come from completed site checks. Coding sessions and skipped checks do not affect the score. ### Clarity - **Failed** — Homepage answers Markdown requests ```text Homepage returned text/html even when Markdown was requested via Accept header. ``` - **Failed** — llms.txt provides an actionable documentation index ```text https://docs.buoyant.io/llms.txt returns 404; no documentation index exists. ``` - **Skipped** — llms.txt provides navigation guidance ```text No llms.txt body exists (404), so navigation guidance cannot be assessed. ``` - **Skipped** — llms.txt mentions offered API, MCP, and skills ```text No llms.txt body exists (404), so API/MCP/skills mentions cannot be assessed. ``` - **Skipped** — A compact guide representation exists ```text No compact guide representation (standalone .md or negotiated Markdown) was fetched; only HTML pages returned. ``` - **Skipped** — A focused guide is directly retrievable ```text Fetched guide pages returned only titles and nav; no focused retrievable guide content observed. ``` - **Skipped** — Equivalent instructions fit a token budget ```text No guide content was retrieved, so token-budget fit cannot be measured. ``` - **Skipped** — Product-docs links survive format changes ```text Homepage Markdown is unsupported, so link preservation across formats is unassessed. ``` - **Skipped** — The compact guide is independently actionable ```text No compact guide content fetched; only homepage and section landing pages returned. ``` - **Skipped** — Install and next-step links resolve ```text Install and next-step links listed on homepage but their targets were not fetched. ``` ### Onboarding - **Skipped** — Docs lead to a relevant quickstart ```text Fetched pages are near-empty shells; no quickstart steps or links to one are visible. ``` - **Skipped** — Installation commands are extractable ```text No installation commands appear in the fetched Buoyant pages. ``` - **Skipped** — Code examples are available without interaction ```text Fetched pages contain no code examples; content appears unrendered. ``` - **Skipped** — Prerequisites and auth boundaries are explicit ```text No prerequisites or auth details are present in the fetched pages. ``` ### Pricing - **Failed** — Agents identify pricing and its assumptions ```text 3 of 3 sessions were judged on pricing; 1 fell short. DeepSeek V4.1 Flash: Said pricing is quote-only with no public figures, and named the basis: free under 50 employees, free non-production evaluation, paid production license, Premium vs Strategic tiers, AWS Marketplace billing. (seq 52, seq 61, seq 73) Kimi K3: Tied cost to plan and conditions: open source free, enterprise free to try and free in production under 50 employees; paid tiers contact-sales with no public prices, no guessing (seq 20, seq 22) Qwen 3.8 Max: Declined to give any price or plan, saying it could not verify pricing; no figure or assumptions were stated (seq 14) This behavioural item does not affect the fast grade. ``` - **Skipped** — Pricing is readable without interaction ```text No pricing page was fetched; only the docs homepage is available. ``` - **Skipped** — Prices are stated, not gated ```text No pricing page was fetched; only the docs homepage is available. ``` - **Skipped** — Pricing units and limits are explicit ```text No pricing page was fetched; only the docs homepage is available. ``` ### Activation - **Skipped** — An API reference or OpenAPI spec is reachable ```text No API reference or OpenAPI spec page was fetched; docs pages returned only headers. ``` - **Skipped** — An MCP server is documented and well-formed ```text No MCP server documentation was fetched or offered in the sampled pages. ``` - **Skipped** — A CLI install path is documented ```text No CLI install or quickstart page was fetched; sampled docs pages had no body content. ``` - **Skipped** — SDK packages resolve on their registries ```text No SDK package registry lookup was supplied for any Buoyant developer package. ``` - **Skipped** — Agent skills are published ```text No agent skills documentation was fetched or referenced in the sampled pages. ``` [Full report data](https://www.ax-check.com/docs.buoyant.io/report.json)