Example: Kustomize Components

Render and deploy Kustomize overlays with Atmos-native Kubernetes components against a local Kubernetes emulator (k3s).

This example uses provider: kustomize, so Atmos renders the overlay with the Kustomize Go API and then applies the resulting objects through the Kubernetes Go SDK. It does not require the kustomize or kubectl binaries.

The local cluster is managed by the native emulator feature — Atmos starts the k3s container, harvests its kubeconfig, and injects KUBECONFIG for you. There is no docker-compose.yml and no manual kubeconfig wiring.

Try It

cd examples/kustomize

# Start the local Kubernetes emulator (k3s)
atmos emulator up kubernetes -s dev

# Render the dev overlay
atmos kubernetes render demo -s dev --identity local-k3s

# Preview and apply through the Kubernetes SDK
atmos kubernetes diff demo -s dev --identity local-k3s
atmos kubernetes apply demo -s dev --identity local-k3s

# Clean up
atmos kubernetes delete demo -s dev --identity local-k3s
atmos emulator down kubernetes -s dev          # stop (state persists)
# atmos emulator reset kubernetes -s dev       # stop and delete cluster state

The atmos test custom command remains available as the CI smoke wrapper for this same lifecycle.

Key Files

File	Purpose
`atmos.yaml`	Kubernetes component config and the `local-k3s` emulator identity
`stacks/catalog/emulator/kubernetes.yaml`	The local Kubernetes emulator component (`driver: k3s`)
`components/kubernetes/demo/base/`	Kustomize base
`components/kubernetes/demo/overlays/dev/`	Kustomize overlay used by the dev stack
`stacks/catalog/demo.yaml`	Abstract component with provider and path configuration

Auth

The local-k3s identity uses kind: kubernetes/emulator, bound to the kubernetes emulator component. Running with --identity local-k3s makes Atmos resolve the running k3s container, harvest its admin kubeconfig, and export KUBECONFIG into the component environment — so the Kubernetes SDK client talks to the emulator with no extra configuration.

For real EKS clusters, pair an AWS identity with an aws/eks integration that writes kubeconfig for the cluster.