Adding Apps

Overview

There are two types of apps:

• System Apps: Infrastructure (ArgoCD, cert-manager, MetalLB, Ingress)
• User Apps: Applications (websites, services)

Step 1: Create Helm Chart

Create a new Helm chart in charts/<app-name>/:

charts/my-app/
├── Chart.yaml
├── values.yaml
└── templates/
    ├── deployment.yaml
    ├── service.yaml
    └── ingress.yaml

Example Chart.yaml:

apiVersion: v2
name: my-app
description: My application
type: application
version: 0.1.0
appVersion: "1.0"

Step 2: Create ArgoCD Application Template

For System Apps

Create charts/system-apps/templates/<app-name>.yaml:

{{- $env := .Values.clusterEnv -}}
{{- $appName := "my-app" -}}
{{- if index .Values.apps $appName -}}
{{- $app := index .Values.apps $appName -}}
{{- if $app.enabled }}
apiVersion: argoproj.io/v1alpha1
kind: Application
metadata:
  name: {{ $appName }}
  namespace: argocd
  finalizers:
    - resources-finalizer.argocd.argoproj.io
  annotations:
    argocd.argoproj.io/sync-wave: "4"
spec:
  project: playground
  source:
    repoURL: {{ .Values.repoURL }}
    targetRevision: {{ .Values.targetRevision }}
    path: charts/{{ $appName }}
    helm:
      valueFiles:
        - $values/config/{{ $env }}/applications/{{ $appName }}-values.yaml
  destination:
    server: https://kubernetes.default.svc
    namespace: {{ $app.destinationNamespace | default "default" | quote }}
  syncPolicy:
    automated:
      prune: true
      selfHeal: true
---
{{- end }}
{{- end }}

note

The $values reference points to the values from the main repository (not the Helm chart).

Step 3: Enable in Cluster Config

Edit cluster/dev/config.yaml:

apps:
  my-app:
    enabled: true
    destinationNamespace: default

Step 4: Create App-Specific Values (Optional)

Create config/dev/applications/my-app-values.yaml:

replicaCount: 2
image:
  repository: myorg/my-app
  tag: latest
ingress:
  enabled: true
  hosts:
    - myapp.ssdk8s.xyz

Step 5: Deploy

# 1. Push changes
git add . && git commit -m "Add my-app" && git push

# 2. Create release
make prepare-release REPO_ARGS="--repo owner/repo --message 'Add my-app'"

# 3. Deploy
make deploy ENV=dev

Enabling/Disabling Apps

Edit cluster/<env>/config.yaml:

apps:
  my-app:
    enabled: true   # or false to disable

After changing, commit and create a new release.

Sync Wave Order

When adding multiple apps, use sync waves to control deployment order:

Wave	Component Type
-1	ArgoCD itself
0	Core (cert-manager, MetalLB)
1	Networking (Ingress, External-DNS)
2	Storage (local-path-provisioner)
3	Monitoring (Prometheus, Loki)
4	User applications