Erasing the scalar type tag leads to unfortunate circumstances, in that the resulting yaml code is valid yaml, but will not meet the object spec. For example, using the replacement transformer to take a port number as a string from a ConfigMap and set a Pod port would previously end up with: - containerPort: "8080" when the spec requires that this is not a string: - containerPort: 8080 Added unit tests for conversion to and from integers and booleans, plus creation from string and creation from integer. The creation behavior needs some refinement in a future PR. Signed-off-by: Jim Ramsay <i.am@jimramsay.com>
kustomize
kustomize lets you customize raw, template-free YAML
files for multiple purposes, leaving the original YAML
untouched and usable as is.
kustomize targets kubernetes; it understands and can
patch kubernetes style API objects. It's like
make, in that what it does is declared in a file,
and it's like sed, in that it emits edited text.
This tool is sponsored by sig-cli (KEP).
kubectl integration
The kustomize build flow at v2.0.3 was added to kubectl v1.14. The kustomize flow in kubectl remained frozen at v2.0.3 until kubectl v1.21, which updated it to v4.0.5. It will be updated on a regular basis going forward, and such updates will be reflected in the Kubernetes release notes.
| Kubectl version | Kustomize version |
|---|---|
| < v1.14 | n/a |
| v1.14-v1.20 | v2.0.3 |
| v1.21 | v4.0.5 |
| v1.22 | v4.2.0 |
For examples and guides for using the kubectl integration please see the kubectl book or the kubernetes documentation.
Usage
1) Make a kustomization file
In some directory containing your YAML resource files (deployments, services, configmaps, etc.), create a kustomization file.
This file should declare those resources, and any customization to apply to them, e.g. add a common label.
File structure:
~/someApp ├── deployment.yaml ├── kustomization.yaml └── service.yaml
The resources in this directory could be a fork of someone else's configuration. If so, you can easily rebase from the source material to capture improvements, because you don't modify the resources directly.
Generate customized YAML with:
kustomize build ~/someApp
The YAML can be directly applied to a cluster:
kustomize build ~/someApp | kubectl apply -f -
2) Create variants using overlays
Manage traditional variants of a configuration - like development, staging and production - using overlays that modify a common base.
File structure:
~/someApp ├── base │ ├── deployment.yaml │ ├── kustomization.yaml │ └── service.yaml └── overlays ├── development │ ├── cpu_count.yaml │ ├── kustomization.yaml │ └── replica_count.yaml └── production ├── cpu_count.yaml ├── kustomization.yaml └── replica_count.yaml
Take the work from step (1) above, move it into a
someApp subdirectory called base, then
place overlays in a sibling directory.
An overlay is just another kustomization, referring to the base, and referring to patches to apply to that base.
This arrangement makes it easy to manage your
configuration with git. The base could have files
from an upstream repository managed by someone else.
The overlays could be in a repository you own.
Arranging the repo clones as siblings on disk avoids
the need for git submodules (though that works fine, if
you are a submodule fan).
Generate YAML with
kustomize build ~/someApp/overlays/production
The YAML can be directly applied to a cluster:
kustomize build ~/someApp/overlays/production | kubectl apply -f -
Community
- file a bug instructions
- contribute a feature instructions
Code of conduct
Participation in the Kubernetes community is governed by the Kubernetes Code of Conduct.

