Serialization

The Kubernetes lexicon serializes resources into multi-document YAML with --- separators between resources. Each resource gets the standard K8s structure: apiVersion, kind, metadata, and spec.

Building

Run chant build to produce Kubernetes manifests from your declarations:

chant build src/ --output dist/manifests.yaml
# Writes dist/manifests.yaml

The generated file includes:

• Multi-document YAML with --- separators
• Correct apiVersion and kind for each resource
• metadata.name auto-generated from export names (camelCase → kebab-case)
• Default labels and annotations injected from defaultLabels()/defaultAnnotations()

Key conversions

Chant (TypeScript)	YAML output	Rule
export const myApp = new Deployment({...})	metadata.name: my-app	Export name → kebab-case
new Container({...})	Inline container spec	Property types expanded inline
defaultLabels({...})	Merged into all resources	Project-wide label injection

Applying

The output is standard Kubernetes YAML. Apply with kubectl:

# Dry run first
kubectl apply -f dist/manifests.yaml --dry-run=server

# Apply
kubectl apply -f dist/manifests.yaml

# Diff before applying
kubectl diff -f dist/manifests.yaml

Compatibility

The output is compatible with:

• kubectl apply/diff
• Helm (as raw manifests)
• ArgoCD / Flux GitOps controllers
• Kustomize (as a base)
• Any tool that processes Kubernetes YAML