Skip to main content
Alison Aquinas logoAlison's LLM Skills Marketplace

kustomize

Included in skill bundleci-cdView on GitHub ↗

Files

SKILL.mdagentsreferences

Install

Install only this skill with npx skills
npx skills add alisonaquinas/llm-ci-dev --skill 'kustomize' -g -y
Install the containing skill bundle
/plugin install ci-cd@llm-skills
Download kustomize-skill.zip
This skill is bundled inside ci-cd. Use npx skills when you only want this skill, or install the bundle once to make every included skill available through the plugin marketplace flow. Browse the full skill bundle repository at github.com/alisonaquinas/llm-ci-dev.

Invoke

Invoke this skill after installation
/ci-cd:kustomize

SKILL.md

name: kustomize description: Customize Kubernetes manifests with overlay and base patterns using Kustomize. Use when tasks mention kustomize, Kustomization files, kubectl apply -k, overlay/base patterns, or kustomization.yaml.

kustomize

Use this skill to keep Kubernetes manifest customization structured, overlay-based, and free of template duplication.

Intent Router

RequestReferenceLoad When
Install kustomize standalone or kubectl built-inreferences/install-and-setup.mdUser needs to install kustomize or verify version
kustomize build, edit, kubectl apply -k commandsreferences/command-cookbook.mdUser needs day-to-day kustomize operations
kustomization.yaml anatomy, generators, patchesreferences/kustomization-structure.mdUser wants to understand or author kustomization.yaml
base/overlay layout, environment overlays, GitOpsreferences/overlays-and-bases.mdUser asks about multi-environment patterns or GitOps integration

Quick Start

# Preview rendered output
kustomize build ./overlays/production

# Apply directly with kubectl
kubectl apply -k ./overlays/production

# Diff what will change
kubectl diff -k ./overlays/production

# Build and pipe to kubectl
kustomize build ./overlays/production | kubectl apply -f -

Core Command Tracks

  • Build: kustomize build <dir> — render all resources to stdout
  • Apply: kubectl apply -k <dir> — build and apply in one step
  • Diff: kubectl diff -k <dir> — preview changes against live cluster
  • Edit: kustomize edit set image/namespace/nameprefix — modify kustomization.yaml programmatically
  • Inspect: kustomize cfg tree <dir> — visualize resource tree

Safety Guardrails

  • Always run kustomize build or kubectl diff -k to inspect rendered output before applying to production.
  • Verify the correct overlay path before running kubectl apply -k; applying the wrong overlay can affect the wrong environment.
  • Review patches carefully — strategic merge patches can silently remove fields if not written correctly.
  • Do not commit secretGenerator literals directly; use .env files excluded from version control or reference external secret managers.
  • Test changes in a lower environment overlay before promoting to production overlays.
  • Use namePrefix and namespace fields in overlays to prevent accidental cross-environment resource collisions.

Workflow

  1. Identify the target overlay: ls overlays/.
  2. Preview rendered manifests: kustomize build ./overlays/<env>.
  3. Diff against live cluster: kubectl diff -k ./overlays/<env>.
  4. Apply: kubectl apply -k ./overlays/<env>.
  5. Verify rollout: kubectl rollout status deployment/<name> -n <namespace>.
# Troubleshoot rendered output: build and count resources, then search for a specific resource
kustomize build ./overlays/production | grep "^kind:"
kustomize build ./overlays/production | kubectl apply --dry-run=client -f -

Related Skills

  • kubectl — apply and manage resources built by kustomize
  • helm — chart-based alternative to kustomize for packaging applications
  • docker — build container images referenced in kustomize image overrides

References

← Back to marketplace