Create Manifest Files

Prerequisites

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

Step-by-Step Process

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"

2. Configure Environment-Specific Values

Replace these values with your AWS Resources output:

Field	Description	Source
`env.awsSecretId`	Secret name for environment variables	Everything after `:secret:` in `static_secret`
`image.registry`	ECR registry URL	First part of `ecr_repository`
`image.repository`	Image repository path	Remaining part of `ecr_repository`

3. Create Application Directory Structure

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

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.

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

6. Configure Dockerfile and Entrypoint

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

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 "$@"

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"]

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.

8. Verify Deployment

Go to your ArgoCD dashboard
Find your application in the list
Check the sync status
Review logs if there are issues

Manifest Fields Reference

Environment Configuration

Field	Description	Example
`env.secretid`	AWS Secrets Manager secret name	`development/app_name/env-ABC123`
`image.registry`	Container registry URL	`123456789.dkr.ecr.us-east-1.amazonaws.com`
`image.repository`	Image repository path	`development/application/app_name`
`image.tag`	Image tag	`latest`, `v1.0.0`, `test-6b0f2da7`

Resource Configuration

Field	Description	Recommended
`resources.requests.memory`	Minimum memory required	`256Mi`
`resources.requests.cpu`	Minimum CPU required	`100m`
`resources.limits.memory`	Maximum memory allowed	`512Mi`
`resources.limits.cpu`	Maximum CPU allowed	`500m`

Next Steps

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

Troubleshooting

Application Not Appearing in ArgoCD

Check that you pushed to the main branch
Verify the directory structure is correct
Check ArgoCD logs for sync errors

Secret Not Found Error

Verify the secret ID matches AWS output
Confirm the secret exists in AWS Secrets Manager
Ensure the IAM role can read the secret

Image Pull Errors

Verify the ECR repository URL is correct
Check the image tag exists in the repository
Ensure the service account has ECR pull permissions

Introduction & Key Concepts

AWS SSO Setup

IaC Management

User Management

Application Creation

ArgoCD UI

Workshops

Prerequisites

Step-by-Step Process

1. Add Application to Cluster Configuration

2. Configure Environment-Specific Values

3. Create Application Directory Structure

4. Create values.yaml

5. Create Chart.yaml

6. Configure Dockerfile and Entrypoint

Entrypoint Script (Node.js Example)

Dockerfile Example (Node.js)

7. Deploy to ArgoCD

8. Verify Deployment

Manifest Fields Reference

Environment Configuration

Resource Configuration

Next Steps

Troubleshooting

​Prerequisites

​Step-by-Step Process

​1. Add Application to Cluster Configuration

​2. Configure Environment-Specific Values

​3. Create Application Directory Structure

​4. Create values.yaml

​5. Create Chart.yaml

​6. Configure Dockerfile and Entrypoint

​Entrypoint Script (Node.js Example)

​Dockerfile Example (Node.js)

​7. Deploy to ArgoCD

​8. Verify Deployment

​Manifest Fields Reference

​Environment Configuration

​Resource Configuration

​Next Steps

​Troubleshooting

Prerequisites

Step-by-Step Process

1. Add Application to Cluster Configuration

2. Configure Environment-Specific Values

3. Create Application Directory Structure

4. Create values.yaml

5. Create Chart.yaml

6. Configure Dockerfile and Entrypoint

Entrypoint Script (Node.js Example)

Dockerfile Example (Node.js)

7. Deploy to ArgoCD

8. Verify Deployment

Manifest Fields Reference

Environment Configuration

Resource Configuration

Next Steps

Troubleshooting