kubernetes-sigs / kubernetes-sigs/cluster-api

Embedding cert-manager into CAPI for smaller footprint/less upgrade deps

Open
#7,443 14 comments 1 reaction 0 assignees View on GitHub
help wanted kind/feature priority/important-longterm triage/accepted
Dominant language
Go
Stars
4.3k
Forks
1.6k
Avg merge
1d 3h
Merged PRs (30d)
113

Description

I recently realized that the 3 cert-manager related processes we use in CAPI are actually not required when a cluster is running, and only required, i believe:
- on upgrades
- on creation of a new cluster

**User Story**

As a CAPI User I'd like to minimize the number of containers I need to run persistently in my cluster, and thus i'd like a like a default "batteries included" certificate management solution running in one my essential capi pods... so that i dont need to run certmanager after cluster creation.

i.e. the dumbed down version of this would be something like... "lets just vendor certmanager and use it when needed".

**Detailed Description**

I think these 3 services:
- ca-injector
- webhook
- certmanager

Can
- all be run as one off processes on startup
- invoked as needed during upgrades
- be non-existent at other times ?

**Anything else you would like to add:**

/kind feature

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

Research direction

The issue mentions CAPI's ca-injector, webhook, and certmanager processes but names no files, tests, or entry points. Begin by locating how these processes are currently deployed and invoked during cluster creation and upgrades; done means a concrete, validated design for embedding or on-demand execution without the persistent dependency.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
go, kubernetes
Domain
infrastructure
Issue type
Feature
Difficulty
5/5
Estimated time
Over a week
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Needs clarification
Newbie friendliness
25/100

Get new issues in your inbox

A short digest of beginner-friendly GitHub issues.