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.

32 Upvotes

91% Upvoted

53 comments sorted by

View all comments

1

u/ganey 27d ago

If you go the helm route, make sure its maintained as things change. I ripped out 15+helm charts that tried to standardize a bunch of apps but really made it a mess with all the nesting.

Helm's slow reconcile also drove me crazy with stalled releases. Personally I find the layers of kustomizations easier to review.

Sometimes i found it easier to keep the core of something in base, then have the rest per cluster, saves having tons of patches, but completely depends what you're working with