Plans for kluctl integration with controller

[gitbluf]

Hi,
So I just wanted to see if there are any plans for kluctl integration with controller(Kluctl Deployment) in a similar manner to flux cli
Currently I wrote a simple kubectl extension that simulates it(suspend, resume, reconcile).
It's currently written in bash but might rewrite it in Go if this feature is not planned for kluctl itself.

Let me know what you think about this idea (I will push it to git-repo these days, once I setup krew pipeline, so you can check it out).

[codablock]

I did not look into this so far, but I would be happy to see a solution that would allow to suspend/resume/reconcile via the flux CLI. This is something that I need to get in contact with the flux devs and see if we can find a generic solution that allows flux to control non-core (e.g. helm/kustomize) resources.

I assume this will lead to some solution that allows to mark CRDs for "supports flux reconciliation commands" and which is then detected by the flux cli so that it can set the appropriate fields/annotations on non-core resources (e.g. KluctlDeployment).

[gitbluf]

I'm also in support of kluctl not being dependant of anything outside, so this would be more like subset of commands/flags.
For example:

• kluctl flux <reconcile|suspend|resume> kd(kluctldeployment) <name> -n <namespace> [FLAGS(example: --with-source)]

This would make kluctl still work the same way as it is now, just that controller interaction would be optional in case controller is used.
It would also enable further commands like:
- status and description of last deployment
- history for last n deployments(commits)
- maybe diff storing/fetching from last run(I like the concept of 'plan/diff')

But for the basic interaction kluctl would need to be able to:
- update KluctlDeployment annotation with new timestamp(kubectl annotate --overwrite kluctldeployment/microservices-demo-prod fluxcd.io/reconcileAt="$(date +%s)")
- update spec.suspend (resume/suspend)
- update Source annotation with new timestamp, it would fetch which one from spec.sourceRef when --with-source is provided

This would be the basics needed when you need to test KluctlDeployment.

[codablock]

Sounds very good, I like it. My main concern is now how to share api code / CRDs between kluctl and the controller. For reconcile/suspend/resume we'd be able to work schemaless and directly poke into the objects.

Commands like status/history/diff would however need the full api definitions, requiring us to find a way to not create a circular dependency between kluctl and the controller.

So, I'd be really happy to see you contribute the first set of commands :)

[codablock]

Hey @gitbluf, any news on this topic? Do you need some assistance?

[gitbluf]

Hi @codablock , sorry, I had a private situation that required immediate attention and kept me really busy in off hours for a couple of weeks, so I only started getting around the code base 2 days ago.
Did the need for this feature rise or do I still have time?

[codablock]

I had some discussions with other people about enhancing the kluctl cli with flux related features and it would be good to have a common base to work on the sub-commands. This is however not urgent, so take your time.

[codablock]

@gitbluf fyi, the CLI has gotten quite a few new sub-commands in v2.22.0 which allow to have much better control over gitops deployments.

[gitbluf]

@gitbluf fyi, the CLI has gotten quite a few new sub-commands in v2.22.0 which allow to have much better control over gitops deployments.

Cheers
Will take a look