kpt as the enabler of WYSIWYG configuration

[Brian Grant]

ICYMI:

We’ve been working away on Configuration as Data. 

One thing we did is write down some principles behind Configuration as Data. 

https://github.com/GoogleContainerTools/kpt/blob/main/docs/design-docs/06-config-as-data.md

We realized that we needed a new component: the package orchestrator. https://github.com/GoogleContainerTools/kpt/blob/main/docs/design-docs/07-package-orchestration.md. It automates operations on config data in kpt packages. It provides control and data planes for packages. It can create, modify, transform, upgrade, and delete packages.

This component is in the kpt repo. I think of it as "kpt as a service", at least the package and function parts. 

The live/apply part is effectively GitOps. Config Sync is now open source and provides a reference implementation of that piece. We've been working on converging the apply code with kpt's for some time.

More about the WYSIWYG approach is described here:

https://cloud.google.com/blog/products/containers-kubernetes/lets-improve-gitops-usability

WYSIWYG UI demo video is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_x7z4CXHDw

Prototype UI demo video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_iV22_6nAM

Check out the new content on https://kpt.dev, such as a tutorial for using the Backstage UI plugin.

You can find all kpt-related repos with this search:

https://github.com/GoogleContainerTools/?q=kpt&type=all&language=&sort=

If you're interested in contributing, our (short) contributing guide is in the usual place:

https://github.com/GoogleContainerTools/kpt/blob/main/CONTRIBUTING.md

Reach out here or on slack if you have questions.