Kubernetes Deployment Workflows

Comprehensive deployment strategies using kubectl-mcp-server tools, including Argo Rollouts and Flagger for progressive delivery.

When to Apply

Use this skill when:

User mentions: "deploy", "release", "rollout", "scale", "update", "upgrade"
Operations: creating deployments, updating images, scaling replicas
Strategies: canary, blue-green, rolling update, recreate
Keywords: "new version", "push to production", "traffic shifting"

Priority Rules

Priority	Rule	Impact	Tools
1	Preview with template before apply	CRITICAL	`template_helm_chart`
2	Check existing state first	CRITICAL	`get_pods`, `list_helm_releases`
3	Use progressive delivery for prod	HIGH	`rollout_*` tools
4	Verify health after deployment	HIGH	`get_pod_metrics`, `get_endpoints`
5	Keep rollback revision noted	MEDIUM	`get_helm_history`
6	Scale incrementally	LOW	`scale_deployment`

Quick Reference

Task	Tool	Example
Deploy from manifest	`kubectl_apply`	`apply_manifest(yaml, namespace)`
Deploy with Helm	`install_helm_chart`	`install_helm_chart(name, chart, namespace)`
Update image	`set_deployment_image`	`set_deployment_image(name, ns, container, image)`
Scale replicas	`scale_deployment`	`scale_deployment(name, ns, replicas=5)`
Rollback	`rollback_deployment`	`rollback_deployment(name, ns, revision=0)`
Canary promote	`rollout_promote_tool`	`rollout_promote_tool(name, ns)`

Standard Deployments

Deploy from Manifest

kubectl_apply(manifest_yaml, namespace)

Deploy with Helm

install_helm_chart(
    name="my-app",
    chart="bitnami/nginx",
    namespace="production",
    values={"replicaCount": 3}
)

Scale Deployment

scale_deployment(name, namespace, replicas=5)

Rolling Update

set_deployment_image(name, namespace, container="app", image="myapp:v2")

rollout_status(name, namespace, resource_type="deployment")

Progressive Delivery

Argo Rollouts (Recommended)

For canary and blue-green deployments with analysis.

List Rollouts

rollouts_list_tool(namespace)

Canary Promotion

rollout_status_tool(name, namespace)

rollout_promote_tool(name, namespace)

Abort Bad Release

rollout_abort_tool(name, namespace)

Retry Failed Rollout

rollout_retry_tool(name, namespace)

See ROLLOUTS.md for detailed Argo Rollouts workflows.

Flagger Canary

For service mesh-integrated canary releases:

flagger_canaries_list_tool(namespace)
flagger_canary_get_tool(name, namespace)

Deployment Strategies

Strategy	Use Case	Tools
Rolling	Standard updates	`set_deployment_image`, `rollout_status`
Recreate	Stateful apps	Set strategy in manifest
Canary	Risk mitigation	`rollout_*` tools
Blue-Green	Zero downtime	`rollout_*` with blue-green

See references/STRATEGIES.md for detailed strategy comparisons.

Rollback Operations

Native Kubernetes

rollback_deployment(name, namespace, revision=0)

rollback_deployment(name, namespace, revision=2)

Helm Rollback

rollback_helm_release(name, namespace, revision=1)

Argo Rollouts Rollback

rollout_abort_tool(name, namespace)

Health Verification

After deployment, verify health:

get_pods(namespace, label_selector="app=myapp")

get_pod_metrics(name, namespace)

get_endpoints(namespace)

Multi-Cluster Deployments

Deploy to specific clusters using context:

install_helm_chart(
    name="app",
    chart="./charts/app",
    namespace="prod",
    context="production-us-east"
)

install_helm_chart(
    name="app",
    chart="./charts/app",
    namespace="prod",
    context="production-eu-west"
)

Example Manifests

See examples/ for ready-to-use deployment manifests:

examples/canary-rollout.yaml - Argo Rollouts canary
examples/blue-green.yaml - Blue-green deployment
examples/hpa-deployment.yaml - Deployment with HPA

Prerequisites

Argo Rollouts: Required for rollout_* tools

kubectl create namespace argo-rollouts
kubectl apply -n argo-rollouts -f https://github.com/argoproj/argo-rollouts/releases/latest/download/install.yaml

Flagger: Required for flagger_* tools

kubectl apply -k github.com/fluxcd/flagger/kustomize/kubernetes

Related Skills

k8s-gitops - GitOps deployments with Flux/ArgoCD
k8s-autoscaling - Auto-scale deployments
k8s-rollouts - Advanced progressive delivery
k8s-helm - Helm chart operations

k8s-deploy