kapitan

Kapitan is a configuration management tool designed to make managing complex application configurations easier. It allows users to define their configuration in a hierarchical structure, often using YAML files, and then manage them through templates and variable substitution. This approach helps in separating configuration from code and allows for different configurations based on the deployment environment (e.g., development, staging, production).

The core concept behind Kapitan is the idea of a "configuration database" or "config data." Users define their configuration in various sources, such as YAML, JSON, or Jinja2 templates. Kapitan then processes these inputs, applying logic and interpolation to produce the final configuration files. It supports features like inheritance, allowing for common configurations to be defined once and extended by specific environments, reducing redundancy.

Kapitan integrates with other tools and technologies. It can be used to manage Kubernetes manifests, Terraform configurations, and other deployment-related files. Its templating capabilities, particularly with Jinja2, enable dynamic generation of complex files based on variables and logic. This makes it suitable for microservices architectures and complex cloud-native deployments where configuration management can become a significant challenge. The tool aims to provide a centralized and version-controlled way to handle all aspects of an application's configuration.