This KCNA practice question tests your understanding of cloud native architecture. Read the scenario carefully and evaluate each option against the stated constraints before committing to an answer. After answering, compare your reasoning against the explanation and wrong-answer breakdown below. Once you have made your selection, read the full explanation to reinforce the concept and understand why each distractor is designed to mislead on exam day.
Which THREE are core principles of the Twelve-Factor App methodology?
Store config in codebase for traceability
Why wrong: Config should be in environment variables.
Explicitly declare and isolate dependencies
Dependencies declared in manifest.
Tight coupling to backing services
Why wrong: Backing services are attached resources.
Treat logs as event streams
Logs are aggregated, not managed by app.
One codebase tracked in revision control, many deploys
Codebase per app.
Answer choices
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
Explicitly declare and isolate dependencies
Option B is correct because the Twelve-Factor App methodology mandates that dependencies must be explicitly declared and isolated via a dependency declaration manifest (e.g., Gemfile, package.json, requirements.txt) and a dependency isolation tool (e.g., Bundler, npm, pip). This ensures that the application never implicitly depends on system-wide packages, eliminating 'it works on my machine' issues and guaranteeing consistent behavior across all environments.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
Store config in codebase for traceability
Why it's wrong here
Config should be in environment variables.
Explicitly declare and isolate dependencies
Why this is correct
Dependencies declared in manifest.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Tight coupling to backing services
Why it's wrong here
Backing services are attached resources.
Treat logs as event streams
Why this is correct
Logs are aggregated, not managed by app.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
One codebase tracked in revision control, many deploys
Why this is correct
Codebase per app.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Common exam traps
CNCF often tests the misconception that storing configuration in the codebase provides traceability, but the Twelve-Factor App explicitly forbids this to maintain strict separation of config from code and avoid accidental exposure of secrets.
Detailed technical explanation
Under the hood, dependency isolation works by using a tool that creates a self-contained environment (e.g., a virtualenv in Python or a vendor/bundle directory in Ruby) so that the application loads only the exact versions declared in the manifest. A subtle behavior is that even operating-system-level dependencies (like libssl) must be declared and isolated, often via containerization or language-specific tooling, to prevent version conflicts across deployments. In a real-world scenario, a team deploying a Python app to Kubernetes might use pip freeze to pin all transitive dependencies in requirements.txt, ensuring that a security patch to a system library does not break the app in production.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
A small business has 20 workstations on the 192.168.1.0/24 network and one public IP from its ISP. The router uses PAT (NAT overload) so all 20 devices share one public address using different source ports. NAT questions test whether you understand the four address terms and which direction each translation applies.
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FAQ
Cloud Native Architecture — This question tests Cloud Native Architecture — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
The correct answer is: Explicitly declare and isolate dependencies — Option B is correct because the Twelve-Factor App methodology mandates that dependencies must be explicitly declared and isolated via a dependency declaration manifest (e.g., Gemfile, package.json, requirements.txt) and a dependency isolation tool (e.g., Bundler, npm, pip). This ensures that the application never implicitly depends on system-wide packages, eliminating 'it works on my machine' issues and guaranteeing consistent behavior across all environments.
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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Last reviewed: Jun 30, 2026
This KCNA practice question is part of Courseiva's free CNCF certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the KCNA exam.
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