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Apply Kubernetes Manifests Atomically With Rollback

#kubernetes #devops #cicd #go

katomik - Atomic Apply for Kubernetes Manifests with Rollback Support.

Applies multiple Kubernetes manifests with all-or-nothing guarantees. Like kubectl apply -f, but transactional:
if any resource fails to apply or become ready, all previously applied resources are rolled back automatically.

GitHub Repo →

Image description

Features

  • Atomic behavior: Applies multiple manifests as a unit. If anything fails, restores the original state.
  • Server-Side Apply (SSA): Uses PATCH with SSA to minimize conflicts and preserve intent.
  • Status tracking: Waits for all resources to become Current (Ready/Available) before succeeding.
  • Rollback support: Automatically restores previous state if apply or wait fails.
  • Recursive: Like kubectl, supports directories and -R for recursive traversal.
  • STDIN support: Use -f - to read from stdin.

Installation

Manual Installation

  1. Download the latest binary for your platform from the Releases page.
  2. Place the binary in your system's PATH (e.g., /usr/local/bin).

Installation script 

( set -euo pipefail OS="$(uname | tr '[:upper:]' '[:lower:]')" ARCH="$(uname -m | sed -e 's/x86_64/amd64/' -e 's/\(arm\)\(64\)\?.*/\1\2/' -e 's/aarch64$/arm64/')" TAG="$(curl -s https://api.github.com/repos/hashmap-kz/katomik/releases/latest | jq -r .tag_name)" curl -L "https://github.com/hashmap-kz/katomik/releases/download/${TAG}/katomik_${TAG}_${OS}_${ARCH}.tar.gz" | tar -xzf - -C /usr/local/bin && \ chmod +x /usr/local/bin/katomik )
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Homebrew installation 

brew tap hashmap-kz/homebrew-tap brew install katomik
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Usage 

# Apply multiple files atomically katomik apply -f manifests/ # Read from stdin katomik apply -f - < all.yaml # Apply recursively katomik apply -R -f ./deploy/ # Set a custom timeout (default: 5m) katomik apply --timeout 2m -f ./manifests/ # Process and apply a manifest located on a remote server katomik apply \ -f https://raw.githubusercontent.com/user/repo/refs/heads/master/manifests/deployment.yaml
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Example Output 

# katomik apply -f test/integration/k8s/manifests/ ┌───────────────────────────────────────┬──────────────┐ │ RESOURCE │ NAMESPACE │ ├───────────────────────────────────────┼──────────────┤ │ Namespace/katomik-test │ (cluster) │ │ ConfigMap/postgresql-init-script │ katomik-test │ │ ConfigMap/postgresql-envs │ katomik-test │ │ ConfigMap/postgresql-conf │ katomik-test │ │ Service/postgres │ katomik-test │ │ PersistentVolumeClaim/postgres-data │ katomik-test │ │ StatefulSet/postgres │ katomik-test │ │ ConfigMap/prometheus-config │ katomik-test │ │ PersistentVolumeClaim/prometheus-data │ katomik-test │ │ Service/prometheus │ katomik-test │ │ StatefulSet/prometheus │ katomik-test │ │ PersistentVolumeClaim/grafana-data │ katomik-test │ │ Service/grafana │ katomik-test │ │ ConfigMap/grafana-datasources │ katomik-test │ │ Deployment/grafana │ katomik-test │ └───────────────────────────────────────┴──────────────┘ + watching | Service/grafana katomik-test Unknown | Deployment/grafana katomik-test Unknown | StatefulSet/postgres katomik-test InProgress | StatefulSet/prometheus katomik-test InProgress + watching ✓ Success
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Quick Start 

cd test/integration/k8s bash 00-setup-kind.sh katomik apply -f manifests/
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🔒 Rollback Guarantees

On failure (bad manifest, missing dependency, timeout, etc.):

  • Existing objects are reverted to their exact pre-apply state.
  • New objects are deleted.

This guarantees your cluster remains consistent - no partial updates.

Flags

Flag Description
-f File, directory, or - for stdin
-R Recurse into directories
--timeout Timeout to wait for readiness

Feedback

Have a feature request or issue? Feel free to open an issue
or submit a PR!

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