Pulumi is an infrastructure-as-code (IaC) tool that allows users to manage infrastructure using general-purpose programming languages such as JavaScript, TypeScript, Python, Go, .NET, and Java, offering a flexible alternative to domain-specific languages (DSLs) used by other tools like Terraform. By leveraging these languages, Pulumi users can utilize the full capabilities of their runtime environments, enabling complex tasks such as pre-deployment actions, dynamic resource generation, and post-deployment tasks within a single program, thus simplifying the deployment process and reducing the need for additional scripts or tools. The post highlights how Pulumi's approach allows for more streamlined and powerful infrastructure management, with examples demonstrating tasks like building a static website, creating S3 bucket resources, fetching data dynamically, and running post-deployment tasks such as clearing a CDN cache. Pulumi Cloud offers a managed service that integrates with CI/CD and provides state and secrets management, making it easier to adopt Pulumi's capabilities at an organizational level.