Kubernetes Commands

The nself k8s command group generates Kubernetes manifests and Helm charts from your existing ɳSelf stack, and provides shortcuts for deploying to a cluster using your current environment configuration. Docker Compose is still used locally; K8s is the target for staging and production when you need orchestrated scaling.

Quick Start

# 1. Build your stack (required before k8s commands)
nself build

# 2. Generate Kubernetes manifests
nself k8s generate --output k8s/

# 3. Review the generated manifests
ls k8s/

# 4. Apply to your cluster
kubectl apply -f k8s/

# Or use Helm
nself k8s helm                  # Generate chart
helm install nself ./nself-chart

Generating Manifests

nself k8s generate

Convert the current stack to Kubernetes manifests.

nself k8s generate [options]

# Options:
#   --output <dir>       Output directory (default: k8s/)
#   --namespace <ns>     Kubernetes namespace (default: nself)
#   --env <env>          Environment to use (default: active env)
#   --ingress <class>    Ingress class: nginx, traefik, alb
#   --storage <class>    Storage class for PVCs (default: standard)

# Examples
nself k8s generate --output manifests/prod
nself k8s generate --namespace production --ingress nginx
nself k8s generate --env staging --output k8s/staging

Generated Files

k8s/
├── namespace.yaml            # Namespace definition
├── configmap.yaml            # Non-secret config from .env
├── secrets.yaml              # Kubernetes Secret (base64)
├── services/
│   ├── postgres.yaml         # StatefulSet + Service
│   ├── hasura.yaml           # Deployment + Service
│   ├── auth.yaml             # Deployment + Service
│   ├── nginx.yaml            # Deployment + Service + Ingress
│   ├── redis.yaml            # StatefulSet + Service (if enabled)
│   ├── minio.yaml            # StatefulSet + Service (if enabled)
│   └── plugins/
│       └── ai.yaml           # Per-plugin Deployment + Service
├── storage/
│   ├── postgres-pvc.yaml     # Persistent volume claim
│   └── minio-pvc.yaml        # Storage PVC (if enabled)
└── ingress.yaml              # Unified Ingress for all routes

Helm

nself k8s helm

Generate a Helm chart instead of raw manifests.

nself k8s helm [options]

# Options:
#   --output <dir>        Chart output directory (default: nself-chart/)
#   --chart-name <name>   Chart name (default: nself)
#   --chart-version <v>   Chart version (default: CLI version)

# Examples
nself k8s helm --output ./charts
nself k8s helm --chart-name myapp --chart-version 1.0.0

Chart Structure

nself-chart/
├── Chart.yaml              # Chart metadata
├── values.yaml             # Default values (from .env)
├── values.staging.yaml     # Staging overrides
├── values.prod.yaml        # Production overrides
└── templates/
    ├── _helpers.tpl
    ├── namespace.yaml
    ├── configmap.yaml
    ├── secret.yaml
    ├── postgres.yaml
    ├── hasura.yaml
    ├── auth.yaml
    ├── nginx.yaml
    └── plugins/

Status and Context

nself k8s status

Show the status of the ɳSelf deployment on the active cluster.

nself k8s status [options]

# Options:
#   --namespace <ns>    Kubernetes namespace (default: nself)
#   --context <ctx>     kubectl context

# Output:
# ɳSelf on cluster: my-cluster (production)
# Namespace:         nself
#
# RESOURCE             READY    AGE
# postgres             1/1      14d
# hasura               2/2      14d
# auth                 1/1      14d
# nginx                2/2      14d
# plugin-ai            1/1      7d

nself k8s contexts

List available kubectl contexts.

nself k8s contexts

Applying and Deploying

nself k8s apply

Apply generated manifests to the cluster. Equivalent to kubectl apply -f k8s/.

nself k8s apply [options]

# Options:
#   --dir <dir>          Manifest directory (default: k8s/)
#   --namespace <ns>     Namespace (default: nself)
#   --dry-run            Preview changes without applying

# Examples
nself k8s apply
nself k8s apply --dry-run
nself k8s apply --namespace production

nself k8s rollout

Trigger a rolling update on a specific deployment.

nself k8s rollout <service> [options]

# Options:
#   --namespace <ns>    Kubernetes namespace

# Examples
nself k8s rollout hasura
nself k8s rollout nginx --namespace production

Logs and Debugging

nself k8s logs

Stream logs from a pod. Wraps kubectl logs with ɳSelf service awareness.

nself k8s logs <service> [options]

# Options:
#   --tail <n>          Lines to show (default: 50)
#   --follow            Follow log stream
#   --namespace <ns>    Namespace (default: nself)

# Examples
nself k8s logs hasura --follow
nself k8s logs postgres --tail 100

nself k8s exec

Execute a command inside a pod.

nself k8s exec <service> -- <command>

# Examples
nself k8s exec postgres -- psql -U postgres -c 'l'
nself k8s exec hasura -- hasura-cli metadata export

Resource Limits

The generator sets conservative defaults. Override in values.yaml or pass custom limits:

# values.prod.yaml
resources:
  postgres:
    requests:
      memory: "512Mi"
      cpu: "250m"
    limits:
      memory: "2Gi"
      cpu: "1000m"
  hasura:
    requests:
      memory: "256Mi"
      cpu: "100m"
    limits:
      memory: "1Gi"
      cpu: "500m"

Environment Variables

Next Steps

• Helm Commands — standalone Helm integration
• Deploy Commands — for VPS-based deployments
• Cloud Commands — managed hosting on ɳSelf Cloud
• Services Reference — what each service does