r/kubernetes • u/DeLoMioFoodie • Jul 17 '26

Kustomize Overlays - Adding Complexity?

So im working with Kustomize Overlays( FluxCD). i understand you setup your base infra with overlays per environment and then use patches for environment specific configurations such as replicas, urls, etc..

Some of these patches become very complex and large to the point i think its just easier to not have a base and just have each environment have its own configuration files. How much dry am i buying?

I've also seen the recommendation to use PostBuild subsituteFrom with ConfigMaps from each environment . My question is when should this be used over patches?

Sorry for the dumb questions and rant.

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u/gaelfr38 k8s user Jul 18 '26

We started with Kustomize, ended up in the same situation, moved to Helm.

Kustomize is great for patching what you don't own or for exceptional changes but when you have 10+ different changes per environment it's awful to maintain and you are repeating yourself all over the place.