Adopt Kustomize for Kubernetes Manifests

[alanlima]

Problem

The current infra/k8s structure uses hard-coded configuration values (e.g., environment, image tags, domains, resource limits) directly in the YAML manifests. This approach makes it difficult to maintain, update, and promote changes across different environments (dev, staging, prod). Manual edits are required for each environment, increasing the risk of errors and configuration drift.

Proposal

Adopt Kustomize for managing Kubernetes manifests in infra/k8s. Kustomize allows for:

• Environment-specific overlays (e.g., dev, staging, prod) without duplicating base manifests.
• Centralized management of common resources and configuration.
• Easier updates to image tags, environment variables, resource limits, and other settings.
• Improved maintainability and scalability as the project grows.

Acceptance Criteria

• Refactor existing manifests in infra/k8s to use a base/ directory and environment overlays (e.g., overlays/prod/, overlays/dev/).
• Remove hard-coded values from base manifests; use Kustomize patches and kustomization.yaml files for environment-specific configuration.
• Update documentation to describe how to use Kustomize for deployment.
• Validate that deployments using Kustomize overlays produce the same (or improved) results as the current setup.

Additional Context

Example improvements:

• Image tags and environment variables can be set per environment overlay.
• Sensitive or environment-specific data can be managed more cleanly.
• Reduces manual YAML editing and risk of misconfiguration.

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Priority: Medium
Labels: enhancement, k8s, maintainability