Patch

Patch a Kubernetes resource with targeted updates.

Unlike kubectl.Apply which requires the full resource specification, kubectl.Patch allows targeted updates to specific fields. Supports three patch strategies: Strategic Merge (default), JSON Merge, and JSON Patch.

yaml
type: "io.kestra.plugin.kubernetes.kubectl.Patch"

Examples

Patch pod resource limits and wait for it to become ready.

yaml
id: patch_pod_with_wait
namespace: company.team

tasks:
  - id: patch
    type: io.kestra.plugin.kubernetes.kubectl.Patch
    namespace: production
    resourceType: pod
    resourceName: my-pod
    waitUntilReady: PT5M
    patch: |
      {
        "spec": {
          "containers": [
            {
              "name": "app",
              "resources": {
                "limits": {"memory": "512Mi", "cpu": "500m"},
                "requests": {"memory": "256Mi", "cpu": "250m"}
              }
            }
          ]
        }
      }

Patch a deployment to update container resources using strategic merge (default).

yaml
id: patch_deployment_resources
namespace: company.team

tasks:
  - id: patch
    type: io.kestra.plugin.kubernetes.kubectl.Patch
    namespace: production
    resourceType: deployment
    resourceName: my-api
    apiGroup: apps
    patch: |
      {
        "spec": {
          "template": {
            "spec": {
              "containers": [
                {
                  "name": "api",
                  "resources": {
                    "limits": {"memory": "2Gi", "cpu": "1000m"},
                    "requests": {"memory": "1Gi", "cpu": "500m"}
                  }
                }
              ]
            }
          }
        }
      }

Scale a deployment using JSON Patch operations.

yaml
id: scale_deployment
namespace: company.team

tasks:
  - id: scale
    type: io.kestra.plugin.kubernetes.kubectl.Patch
    namespace: production
    resourceType: deployment
    resourceName: my-api
    apiGroup: apps
    patchStrategy: JSON_PATCH
    patch: |
      [
        {"op": "replace", "path": "/spec/replicas", "value": 5}
      ]

Remove an annotation using JSON Merge Patch.

yaml
id: remove_annotation
namespace: company.team

tasks:
  - id: patch
    type: io.kestra.plugin.kubernetes.kubectl.Patch
    namespace: production
    resourceType: deployment
    resourceName: my-api
    apiGroup: apps
    patchStrategy: JSON_MERGE
    patch: |
      {
        "metadata": {
          "annotations": {
            "deprecated-annotation": null
          }
        }
      }

Patch a custom resource.

yaml
id: patch_custom_resource
namespace: company.team

tasks:
  - id: patch
    type: io.kestra.plugin.kubernetes.kubectl.Patch
    namespace: production
    resourceType: shirts
    resourceName: my-shirt
    apiGroup: stable.example.com
    apiVersion: v1
    patch: |
      {
        "spec": {
          "color": "blue",
          "size": "L"
        }
      }

Conditionally update replicas using JSON Patch test operation.

yaml
id: conditional_scale
namespace: company.team

tasks:
  - id: scale
    type: io.kestra.plugin.kubernetes.kubectl.Patch
    namespace: production
    resourceType: deployment
    resourceName: my-api
    apiGroup: apps
    patchStrategy: JSON_PATCH
    patch: |
      [
        {"op": "test", "path": "/spec/replicas", "value": 3},
        {"op": "replace", "path": "/spec/replicas", "value": 10}
      ]

Properties

patch *string

The patch content

The format depends on the patchStrategy. For STRATEGIC_MERGE and JSON_MERGE, provide a JSON object with the fields to update. For JSON_PATCH, provide a JSON array of operations with 'op', 'path', and 'value' fields.

resourceName *string

The name of the Kubernetes resource to patch

resourceType *string

The Kubernetes resource type (e.g., deployment, statefulset, pod)

Note: Currently only namespaced resources are supported. Cluster-scoped resources (e.g., ClusterRole, Node) are not supported.

apiGroup string

The Kubernetes resource apiGroup

Required for custom resources. For core resources (pods, services, etc.), leave empty.

apiVersion string

The Kubernetes resource API version

The version part of the API (e.g., 'v1', 'v1beta1'). Default is 'v1'. Note: This is just the version, not the full group/version. Use apiGroup for the group part.

connection Connection

The connection parameters to the Kubernetes cluster

If no connection is defined, we try to load the connection from the current context in the following order:

System properties
Environment variables
Kube config file
Service account token and a mounted CA certificate.

You can pass a full configuration with all options if needed.

containerDefaultSpec object

Default container spec applied to all containers in the pod

When set, these container spec fields are merged into all containers including:

User-defined containers in the spec
Init and sidecar containers for file transfer (unless fileSidecar.defaultSpec is set)

This provides a convenient way to apply uniform container settings across all containers, which is especially useful in restrictive environments like GovCloud.

Supports any valid Kubernetes container spec fields such as:

securityContext: Security settings for all containers
volumeMounts: Volume mounts to add to all containers
resources: Resource limits/requests for all containers
env: Environment variables for all containers

Merge behavior:

For nested objects (like securityContext): deep merge, container-specific values take precedence
For lists (like volumeMounts, env): concatenated, with defaults added first
Container-specific values always override defaults

Example configuration:

text

containerDefaultSpec: 
  securityContext: 
    allowPrivilegeEscalation: false
    capabilities: 
      drop: 
      - ALL
    readOnlyRootFilesystem: true
    seccompProfile: 
      type: RuntimeDefault
  volumeMounts: 
    - name: tmp
      mountPath: /tmp
  resources: 
    limits: 
      memory: "256Mi"

fileSidecar SideCar

Default

{
  "image": "busybox"
}

The configuration of the file sidecar container that handles the download and upload of files

inputFiles object

SubType string

The files to create on the local filesystem – it can be a map or a JSON object.

The files will be available inside the kestra/working-dir directory of the container. You can use the special variable {{workingDir}} in your command to refer to it.

namespace string

Default default

The namespace where the operation will be done

The Kubernetes namespace in which to execute the operation. Defaults to 'default' if not specified.

outputFiles array

SubType string

The files from the container filesystem to send to Kestra's internal storage

Only files created inside the kestra/working-dir directory of the container can be retrieved. Must be a list of glob expressions relative to the current working directory, some examples: my-dir/**, my-dir/*/** or my-dir/my-file.txt..

patchStrategy string

Default STRATEGIC_MERGE

Possible Values

STRATEGIC_MERGEJSON_MERGEJSON_PATCH

The patch strategy to use

STRATEGIC_MERGE (default): Kubernetes strategic merge patch, most user-friendly. Understands K8s resource structure and intelligently merges lists by merge keys. JSON_MERGE: Simple merge with null-deletion semantics (RFC 7386). JSON_PATCH: Precision operations with add/remove/replace/test (RFC 6902).

waitRunning string

Default PT1H

Format duration

The maximum duration to wait for pod completion

Maximum duration allowed for the pod to complete after reaching Running state. If the pod does not complete within this time, the task will fail and the pod will be deleted. Only used by PodCreate task.

waitUntilReady string

Default PT0S

Format duration

The maximum duration to wait until the resource becomes ready

When set to a positive duration, waits for the resource to report Ready=True in its status conditions. Set to PT0S (zero, default) to skip waiting. Supports Pods, StatefulSets, and custom resources that use the Ready condition. Note: Deployments are not supported as they use the Available condition instead of Ready.

waitUntilRunning string

Default PT10M

Format duration

The maximum duration to wait until the pod is running

Maximum time to wait for the pod to reach Running state, including scheduler assignment, image pull, and container startup. Only used by PodCreate task.

Outputs

metadata Metadata

The resource metadata after patching

status ResourceStatus

The resource status after patching

Contains the current state of the resource including conditions, replicas, phase, etc. Useful for validation and conditional logic in workflows.

Definitions

io.kestra.plugin.kubernetes.models.Connection

apiVersion string

Default v1

The API version

caCertData string

CA certificate as data

caCertFile string

CA certificate as file path

clientCertData string

Client certificate as data

clientCertFile string

Client certificate as a file path

clientKeyAlgo string

Default RSA

Client key encryption algorithm

default is RSA

clientKeyData string

Client key as data

clientKeyFile string

Client key as a file path

clientKeyPassphrase string

Client key passphrase

disableHostnameVerification booleanstring

Disable hostname verification

keyStoreFile string

Key store file

keyStorePassphrase string

Key store passphrase

masterUrl string

Default https://kubernetes.default.svc

The URL to the Kubernetes API

namespace string

The namespace used

oauthToken string

Oauth token

oauthTokenProvider OAuthTokenProvider

Oauth token provider

password string

Password

trustCerts booleanstring

Trust all certificates

trustStoreFile string

Truststore file

trustStorePassphrase string

Truststore passphrase

username string

Username

io.fabric8.kubernetes.api.model.FieldsV1

io.kestra.plugin.kubernetes.models.Metadata

annotations object

SubType string

List of all annotations of the resource

clusterName string

Name of the current cluster

creationTimestamp string

Format date-time

Creation datetime

deletionGracePeriodSeconds integer

Deletetion grace period in seconds

deletionTimestamp string

Format date-time

Deletion datetime

finalizers array

SubType string

List of finalizers

generateName string

Generate name of the resource

generation integer

Generation

labels object

SubType string

List of labels

managedFields array

SubType

List of managed fields

name string

Name of the resource

namespace string

Namespace of the resource

ownerReferences array

SubType

List of owner reference

resourceVersion string

Resource version

selfLink string

Direct link to the API of this resource

uid string

Generated UUID of this resource

io.fabric8.kubernetes.api.model.ManagedFieldsEntry

apiVersion string

fieldsType string

fieldsV1 FieldsV1

manager string

operation string

subresource string

time string

io.kestra.plugin.kubernetes.models.SideCar

defaultSpec object

Default container spec for the file sidecar and init containers

Default container spec fields applied to the init and sidecar containers used for file transfer. When set, this overrides containerDefaultSpec for file transfer containers only.

Supports the same fields as containerDefaultSpec:

securityContext: Security settings for file transfer containers
volumeMounts: Volume mounts to add to file transfer containers
resources: Resource limits/requests (note: also available as top-level 'resources' property)
env: Environment variables for file transfer containers

Example configuration:

text

fileSidecar: 
  defaultSpec: 
    securityContext: 
      allowPrivilegeEscalation: false
      capabilities: 
        drop: 
        - ALL
      readOnlyRootFilesystem: true
      seccompProfile: 
        type: RuntimeDefault
    volumeMounts: 
      - name: tmp
        mountPath: /tmp

image string

Default busybox

The image used for the file sidecar container

resources object

The resource requirements applied to the file sidecar container

io.kestra.plugin.kubernetes.models.ResourceStatus

status object

The status of the Kubernetes resource

Contains the current state of the resource as a generic map structure

io.kestra.plugin.kubernetes.models.OAuthTokenProvider

output string

task Task

io.fabric8.kubernetes.api.model.OwnerReference

apiVersion string

blockOwnerDeletion boolean

controller boolean

kind string

name string

uid string

​Patch

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