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Prerequisites

  • Access to the Fast Foundation manifest repository
  • Output values from the AWS Resources step
  • Basic understanding of Kubernetes concepts

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Step-by-Step Process

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1. Add Application to Cluster Configuration

Navigate to your manifest repository and open the file clusters/<cluster_name>/ruling-app/<environment>/values.yaml. Add your application configuration under the application: field.
Make sure you have the output values from the AWS Resources step ready, since you’ll need them to replace placeholders in the YAML config. 
  your-app-name:
    # appType: standard-application
    ingressRule: Host(`your-app.dev.your-domain.com`)
    port: 3000
    replicas: 1
    nodePoolTier: application
    image:
      registry: "1110987654321.dkr.ecr.us-east-1.amazonaws.com"  # From ecr_repository output
      repository: "development/application/your-app-name"       # Rest of ecr_repository
    env:
      awsSecretId: "environment/your-app-name/env-cDkfzs"       # From static_secret output
      mountPath: "/mnt"
    mainContainer:
      resources: 
        limits:
          cpu: 250m
          memory: 512Mi
        requests:
          cpu: 250m
          memory: 512Mi
      # Configure health check probes according to your application's requirements
      # startupProbe: Gives your app time to start up (especially for slow-starting apps)
      # livenessProbe: Detects if your app is still running (restarts container if failing)
      # readinessProbe: Determines if your app is ready to receive traffic
      startupProbe:
        httpGet:
          port: 3000
          path: "/api/healthz" 
        failureThreshold: 30
        periodSeconds: 5
      
      livenessProbe:
        httpGet:
          port: 3000
          path: "/api/healthz"
        failureThreshold: 4
        periodSeconds: 20
        timeoutSeconds: 2
      
      readinessProbe:
        httpGet:
          port: 3000
          path: "/api/healthz"

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2. Configure Environment-Specific Values

Replace these values with your AWS Resources output:
FieldDescriptionSource
env.awsSecretIdSecret name for environment variablesEverything after :secret: in static_secret
image.registryECR registry URLFirst part of ecr_repository
image.repositoryImage repository pathRemaining part of ecr_repository

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3. Create Application Directory Structure


environments/
└── <environment>/
    └── apps/
        └── <app_name>/
            ├── values.yaml
            └── Chart.yaml

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4. Create values.yaml

Create environments/<environment>/apps/<app_name>/values.yaml: 
standard-application:
  image:
    tag: default-12kmkjas9
The image tag can be any placeholder like default-12kmkjas9 or development-application-deployment-6b0f2da7 until a real image is built.

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5. Create Chart.yaml

Create environments/<environment>/apps/<app_name>/Chart.yaml: 
apiVersion: v2
name: standard-application
description: application helm chart

version: 0.1.0
appVersion: "1.0"

dependencies:
- name: standard-application
  version: 0.1.0
  repository: file://../../charts/standard-application

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6. Configure Dockerfile and Entrypoint

Since a secret is automatically mounted at /mnt/.env, configure your app to load environment variables from that file.

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Entrypoint Script (Node.js Example)

#!/bin/bash

# Load environment variables from mounted secret
if [ -f /mnt/.env ]; then
    export $(cat /mnt/.env | grep -v '^#' | xargs)
fi

exec "$@"

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Dockerfile Example (Node.js)

FROM node:18-alpine

WORKDIR /app
COPY . /app

RUN npm install

COPY entrypoint.sh /entrypoint.sh
RUN chmod +x /entrypoint.sh

EXPOSE 3000
ENTRYPOINT ["/entrypoint.sh"]
CMD ["npm", "start"]

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7. Deploy to ArgoCD

Push your changes to the main branch: 
git add .
git commit -m "Add application manifest files"
git push origin main
ArgoCD will automatically detect the changes and deploy your application.

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8. Verify Deployment

  1. Go to your ArgoCD dashboard
  2. Find your application in the list
  3. Check the sync status
  4. Review logs if there are issues

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Manifest Fields Reference

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Environment Configuration

FieldDescriptionExample
env.secretidAWS Secrets Manager secret namedevelopment/app_name/env-ABC123
image.registryContainer registry URL123456789.dkr.ecr.us-east-1.amazonaws.com
image.repositoryImage repository pathdevelopment/application/app_name
image.tagImage taglatest, v1.0.0, test-6b0f2da7

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Resource Configuration

FieldDescriptionRecommended
resources.requests.memoryMinimum memory required256Mi
resources.requests.cpuMinimum CPU required100m
resources.limits.memoryMaximum memory allowed512Mi
resources.limits.cpuMaximum CPU allowed500m

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Next Steps

Once manifests are created and ArgoCD has synced them, continue to Configure CI/CD.

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Troubleshooting

  • Check that you pushed to the main branch
  • Verify the directory structure is correct
  • Check ArgoCD logs for sync errors
  • Verify the secret ID matches AWS output
  • Confirm the secret exists in AWS Secrets Manager
  • Ensure the IAM role can read the secret
  • Verify the ECR repository URL is correct
  • Check the image tag exists in the repository
  • Ensure the service account has ECR pull permissions