Iterating on Templates
When developing or modifying templates, waiting for GitOps to reconcile changes is slow. By suspending Flux and applying changes directly, you can tighten your development loop significantly.
Suspend GitOps Reconciliation
Start by suspending automatic reconciliation for the application you're working on:
flux suspend kustomization [app-name]
This prevents Flux from interfering while you iterate locally. You can verify suspension with:
flux get kustomization [app-name]
Iterate Quickly
With reconciliation suspended, modify your template as needed.
Once you're ready to test, regenerate the manifests:
homelab generate-manifests --filter [app-name]
Apply the generated manifests directly to your cluster:
kubectl apply -f ./manifests/[app-name]/
See your changes immediately. Repeat this cycle—modify, regenerate, apply—as many times as needed without waiting for Flux reconciliation.
Because Flux reconciliation is suspended, you're responsible for cleaning up any extra resources you create during iteration. When you're done testing, manually delete resources that shouldn't persist:
kubectl delete -f ./manifests/[app-name]/
Or delete specific resources as needed.
Commit and Resume GitOps Reconciliation
Once you're satisfied with your changes, commit and then push them to Git.
Then, resume automatic reconciliation:
flux resume kustomization [app-name]
Verify reconciliation has resumed:
flux get kustomization [app-name]
Flux will eventually reconcile your updated template from Git to the cluster.