Chapter Eight
Packaging and Delivery
Getting manifests from a repository into a cluster reliably — templating with Helm, overlays with Kustomize, GitOps with Argo CD and Flux, and CI/CD pipelines for Kubernetes.
Raw kubectl apply does not scale to many environments and teams. Packaging and delivery is how manifests become repeatable, reviewable releases.
The chapter covers the two dominant ways to manage manifests — Helm's templating and Kustomize's overlays — then the GitOps model where Git is the source of truth and Argo CD or Flux reconciles the cluster to it, and how all of this fits into a CI/CD pipeline.
Topics in This Chapter
Topic 41
Helm
The package manager for Kubernetes — charts, values, releases, and templating. Where it shines and where templating becomes a liability.
Topic 42
Kustomize
Template-free configuration by overlay and patch, built into kubectl. The base-and-overlays model and how it compares to Helm.
Topic 43
GitOps with Argo CD and Flux
Git as the single source of truth, with a controller continuously reconciling the cluster to it. Drift detection, sync, and rollback.
Topic 44
CI/CD for Kubernetes
Building images, updating manifests, and promoting across environments. Where the pipeline ends and GitOps begins.