Write a Manifest (Kubernetes Foundations)

So far you asked for Pods with flags. A manifest describes the same Pod in a file, and the file can be read, shared, reviewed and applied again.

YAML in three rules

yaml

apiVersion: v1
kind: Pod
metadata:
  name: web
  labels:
    app: web
spec:
  containers:
    - name: web
      image: nginx:1.27

key: value, with a space after the colon.
Indentation is structure. Lines indented under a key belong to it. Use spaces, two per level. Never tabs.
A dash starts a list item. containers is a list; each - begins one container, and the lines indented under it belong to that container.

- list itemname: webimage: nginx:1.27same item, same indent

One list item

Compare the file with kubectl explain pod.spec --recursive: the YAML follows the schema exactly.

Save the file, then send it:

text

learner@shallows:~$ kubectl apply -f web.yaml -n shop
pod/web created

-f names the file. -n still picks the namespace, unless the file sets metadata.namespace itself.

With flags	With a file
`kubectl run web --image=nginx:1.27`	`kubectl apply -f web.yaml`
Gone after you press Enter	Stays on disk, can be read and reviewed
Only the fields flags can set	Every field the API has
Typed again for the next cluster	Applied again, anywhere

From here on, most things you build are written as files first. The next lesson shows how to get kubectl to write the first draft.