Version: 2.3

Pre-Packaging Applications in Loft

Apps in Loft allow you to package applications and scripts to share them with other members of your organization.

Creating Apps

Loft lets you create 3 types of apps:

Go to the Apps view using the menu on the left
Click on the button
Use the field Display Name to define the name of this app
Use App Definition, ensure that the kubectl tab is selected
Use the Kubernetes Manifests textarea to specify Kubernetes YAML Manifests... for this app
OPTIONAL: Expand the Parameters section to specify parameters that you can use as placeholders in your Kubernetes manifests (previous step) and users will be asked to fill when deploying this app
OPTIONAL: Expand the Display Options section to specify how users will see this app in Loft UI, e.g. specify an icon for the app, define if Loft should mark this app as recommended app, and/or provide a Readme for this app
Click on the button at the very bottom

Go to the Apps view using the menu on the left
Click on the button
Use the field Display Name to define the name of this app
Use App Definition, ensure that the helm tab is selected
Use the Chart Name field to specify the Chart Name
Use the Chart Version field to specify the x.x.x version of the chart
Use the Chart Repository field to specify the https://chart.repo.url where Loft can find the chart you specified above and specify a username and password below if the chart repository URL is password protected
OPTIONAL: Use the Chart Values field to specify the yaml: values for this chart
OPTIONAL: Expand the Parameters section to specify parameters that you can use as placeholders in your Kubernetes manifests (previous step) and users will be asked to fill when deploying this app
OPTIONAL: Expand the Display Options section to specify how users will see this app in Loft UI, e.g. specify an icon for the app, define if Loft should mark this app as recommended app, and/or provide a Readme for this app
Click on the button at the very bottom

Go to the Apps view using the menu on the left
Click on the button
Use the field Display Name to define the name of this app
Use App Definition, ensure that the bash tab is selected
Use the Kubernetes Manifests textarea to specify Kubernetes YAML Manifests... for this app
OPTIONAL: Expand the Parameters section to specify parameters that you can use as placeholders in your Kubernetes manifests (previous step) and users will be asked to fill when deploying this app
OPTIONAL: Expand the Display Options section to specify how users will see this app in Loft UI, e.g. specify an icon for the app, define if Loft should mark this app as recommended app, and/or provide a Readme for this app
Click on the button at the very bottom

Loft users can deploy apps directly to spaces and virtual clusters, or they can use them in templates for spaces and virtual clusters.

Deploy Apps to Spaces

Go to the Spaces view using the menu on the left
Click on the Space Name to navigate into the namespace
Switch to the Apps tab
Click on the Install App button
In the drawer that appears on the right, use the field Select an App to search for and then select the App you want to deploy (general Helm charts from Artifact Hub or your private Helm repos may be shown here as well)
Optional: Specify additional options and parameters for the app as they appear for the respective app (e.g. Helm values)
Click on the button at the very bottom

Deploy Apps to Virtual Clusters

Go to the Virtual Clusters view using the menu on the left
Click on the Virtual Cluster Name to navigate into the virtual cluster
Switch to the Apps tab
Click on the Install App button
In the drawer that appears on the right, use the field Select an App to search for and then select the App you want to deploy (general Helm charts from Artifact Hub or your private Helm repos may be shown here as well)
Optional: Specify additional options and parameters for the app as they appear for the respective app (e.g. Helm values)
Click on the button at the very bottom

Add Apps to Space Templates

Go to the Spaces view using the menu on the left
Switch to the Space Templates tab
Click the button to create a new space template
In the drawer that appears on the right, use the field Display Name to specify a Name for your space template
Specify sleep mode settings as well as enforced labels and annotations for the spaces that will be created from this template
Expand the Deploy Apps section to specify which apps should be deployed as part of this template
On the very bottom, click on the button to create this space template

Add Apps to Virtual Cluster Templates

Go to the Virtual Clusters view using the menu on the left
Switch to the Virtual Cluster Templates tab
Click the button to create a new virtual cluster template
In the drawer that appears on the right, use the field Display Name to specify a Name for your virtual cluster template
Specify any of these options: labels, annotations, virtual cluster version, helm values and apps to deployed
Expand the Space Template section to specify which Space Template should be applied for the underlying host namespace if being created as part of the virtual clusters creation process
On the very bottom, click on the button to create this virtual cluster template

Loft makes it easy for users to configure who can instantiate, view, or edit an app.

In the Apps view, hover over the app that you want to give someone access to
While hovering over the row, you will see buttons appear on the right in the Actions column
Click on the button to Edit the app
In the drawer that appears on the right, expand the Access To This App section
If the user or team is not listed under Users & Teams yet, click the + Rule button to add another row for a new user or team
Use the Users & Teams field to select the Users and/or Teams who should get access to this app
Use the Permissions field to specify if a user is allows to view, update, ... this app definition
On the very bottom, click on the button to save the changes