feat: add --default-agent-pod-labels flag for global agent pod labels by EItanya · Pull Request #1534 · kagent-dev/kagent

EItanya · 2026-03-23T10:03:05Z

Summary

Adds a new --default-agent-pod-labels CLI flag / DEFAULT_AGENT_POD_LABELS env var that applies a set of labels to all agent pod templates created by kagent
Labels are specified as comma-separated key=value pairs (e.g. team=platform,environment=production)
Fully wired through Helm via controller.agentDeployment.podLabels map in values.yaml
Label precedence: built-in defaults → global default labels → per-agent spec.deployment.labels

Test plan

Unit tests for ParseLabels (8 cases covering valid input, edge cases, and errors)
Unit test for DEFAULT_AGENT_POD_LABELS env var loading
Existing translator golden tests pass
4 new Helm unit tests (labels set, empty, not configured, single label)
Deployed to Kind cluster with podLabels: {team: platform, environment: production} — verified all 11 agent pod templates contain both labels
kubectl get pods -l team=platform returns all agent pods

Comment left by Claude on behalf of @EItanya

🤖 Generated with Claude Code

Add a runtime flag/env var (DEFAULT_AGENT_POD_LABELS) that allows setting labels on all agent pod templates created by kagent. Labels are specified as comma-separated key=value pairs and can be configured via CLI flag, environment variable, or Helm values. Label precedence (lowest to highest): 1. Built-in defaults (app.kubernetes.io/managed-by, etc.) 2. Global DefaultAgentPodLabels (from this flag) 3. Per-agent spec.deployment.labels Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com> Signed-off-by: Eitan Yarmush <eitan.yarmush@solo.io>

Copilot

Pull request overview

Adds support for globally configuring default Kubernetes labels on all agent pod templates, wired end-to-end from Helm values → controller env var → controller flag/env parsing → translator label merge logic.

Changes:

Introduces --default-agent-pod-labels / DEFAULT_AGENT_POD_LABELS and parses key=value label pairs in the controller.
Applies global default labels during agent deployment translation with precedence: built-ins → global defaults → per-agent labels.
Adds Helm values + template logic + chart unit tests to emit DEFAULT_AGENT_POD_LABELS when configured.

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 8 out of 8 changed files in this pull request and generated 3 comments.

Show a summary per file

File	Description
helm/kagent/values.yaml	Adds `controller.agentDeployment.podLabels` values entry and docs.
helm/kagent/tests/controller-deployment_test.yaml	Adds Helm unit tests for `DEFAULT_AGENT_POD_LABELS` rendering behavior.
helm/kagent/templates/controller-configmap.yaml	Renders `DEFAULT_AGENT_POD_LABELS` from `podLabels`.
go/core/pkg/app/app.go	Adds flag/env plumbing and `ParseLabels`, applies parsed labels to translator defaults at startup.
go/core/pkg/app/app_test.go	Adds unit tests for `ParseLabels` and env var loading of `DEFAULT_AGENT_POD_LABELS`.
go/core/internal/controller/translator/agent/deployments.go	Merges global default labels into computed default labels before per-agent overrides.
go/core/internal/controller/translator/agent/adk_api_translator.go	Introduces `DefaultAgentPodLabels` global for translator configuration.
Makefile	Removes the top-level `export` behavior for `.env` overrides.

Comments suppressed due to low confidence (1)

helm/kagent/templates/controller-configmap.yaml:72

printf "%s=%s" $k $v will produce broken output if a label value is not a string (common when users set numeric values without quotes in values.yaml, e.g. build: 123). Use string conversion (e.g. toString $v or %v) to ensure all YAML scalar types render correctly as strings.

  {{- end }}
  {{- end }}

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Copilot · 2026-03-23T10:06:59Z

helm/kagent/templates/controller-configmap.yaml

+  {{- if and .Values.controller.agentDeployment .Values.controller.agentDeployment.podLabels }}
+  {{- $pairs := list }}
+  {{- range $k, $v := .Values.controller.agentDeployment.podLabels }}
+  {{- $pairs = append $pairs (printf "%s=%s" $k $v) }}
+  {{- end }}
+  {{- if $pairs }}
+  DEFAULT_AGENT_POD_LABELS: {{ join "," $pairs | quote }}
+  {{- end }}


Rendering DEFAULT_AGENT_POD_LABELS by ranging over a map produces nondeterministic key order in Go templates. That can cause flaky Helm unit tests and also non-reproducible chart renders (spurious diffs/rollouts) when podLabels has multiple entries. Consider sorting keys (e.g., iterate over keys ... | sortAlpha and build pairs in that order) so the joined string is stable.

Copilot · 2026-03-23T10:07:00Z

helm/kagent/tests/controller-deployment_test.yaml

+      - equal:
+          path: data.DEFAULT_AGENT_POD_LABELS
+          value: "env=prod,team=platform"


This assertion hard-codes an ordering for DEFAULT_AGENT_POD_LABELS ("env=prod,team=platform"), but the template currently builds the string by ranging over a map, which is not order-stable. Either make the template sort keys before joining, or relax the test to accept either ordering to avoid flakes.

Suggested change

- equal:

path: data.DEFAULT_AGENT_POD_LABELS

value: "env=prod,team=platform"

- matchRegex:

path: data.DEFAULT_AGENT_POD_LABELS

pattern: '^(env=prod,team=platform|team=platform,env=prod)$'

Copilot · 2026-03-23T10:07:00Z

Makefile

@@ -1,6 +1,5 @@
 # Load local overrides (gitignored) — e.g. KAGENT_HELM_EXTRA_ARGS=-f helm/kagent/values.local.yaml
 -include .env


Removing the top-level export means variables loaded from .env (intended as local overrides) will no longer be exported to recipe environments or sub-make -C ... invocations. This can break expected override behavior (e.g., a .env-provided VERSION/registry not propagating to make -C go ...). If the goal is to reduce exports, consider exporting only the override vars that need to propagate rather than dropping export entirely.

Suggested change

-include .env

-include .env

# Export selected override variables so .env values propagate to recipes and sub-make invocations

export DOCKER_REGISTRY BASE_IMAGE_REGISTRY DOCKER_REPO HELM_REPO HELM_DIST_FOLDER VERSION

Implement MapValue as a flag.Value for map[string]string, eliminating the need for a raw string variable and post-parse step. LoadFromEnv now parses labels directly via the flag's Set() method. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com> Signed-off-by: Eitan Yarmush <eitan.yarmush@solo.io>

- Sort keys in configmap template for deterministic label ordering - Use toString for label values to handle numeric YAML scalars - Selectively export .env variables instead of dropping export entirely Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com> Signed-off-by: Eitan Yarmush <eitan.yarmush@solo.io>

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com> Signed-off-by: Eitan Yarmush <eitan.yarmush@solo.io>

iplay88keys · 2026-03-23T14:42:35Z

go/core/pkg/app/app_test.go

+		input   string
+		want    map[string]string
+		wantErr bool
+	}{


Missing the test case where an env var contains an equals (such as: key=val=ue). This could occur with a base64 value, for example, so we should have a test case for it.

iplay88keys · 2026-03-23T14:44:46Z

go/core/pkg/app/app_test.go

+	target = map[string]string{"team": "platform"}
+	assert.Equal(t, "team=platform", mv.String())


Worth noting that iterating over a map in Go is random, so if there were multiple keys here, the output would be inconsistent. It's worth considering sorting before ranging over the keys in the implementation.

iplay88keys

Looks good overall. Left a few small comments. Also curious if we want an e2e test for this behavior so there isn't a regression in the future.

- Sort keys in MapValue.String() for deterministic output - Add test case for values containing '=' (e.g. base64 strings) - Add multi-key assertion to TestMapValueString to verify sort order Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com> Signed-off-by: Eitan Yarmush <eitan.yarmush@solo.io>

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com> Signed-off-by: Eitan Yarmush <eitan.yarmush@solo.io>

@EItanya

…kagent-dev#1534) ## Summary - Adds a new `--default-agent-pod-labels` CLI flag / `DEFAULT_AGENT_POD_LABELS` env var that applies a set of labels to all agent pod templates created by kagent - Labels are specified as comma-separated `key=value` pairs (e.g. `team=platform,environment=production`) - Fully wired through Helm via `controller.agentDeployment.podLabels` map in values.yaml - Label precedence: built-in defaults → global default labels → per-agent `spec.deployment.labels` ## Test plan - [x] Unit tests for `ParseLabels` (8 cases covering valid input, edge cases, and errors) - [x] Unit test for `DEFAULT_AGENT_POD_LABELS` env var loading - [x] Existing translator golden tests pass - [x] 4 new Helm unit tests (labels set, empty, not configured, single label) - [x] Deployed to Kind cluster with `podLabels: {team: platform, environment: production}` — verified all 11 agent pod templates contain both labels - [x] `kubectl get pods -l team=platform` returns all agent pods Comment left by Claude on behalf of @EItanya 🤖 Generated with [Claude Code](https://claude.com/claude-code) --------- Signed-off-by: Eitan Yarmush <eitan.yarmush@solo.io> Co-authored-by: Claude Opus 4.6 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>

EItanya requested review from ilackarms and yuval-k as code owners March 23, 2026 10:03

Copilot AI review requested due to automatic review settings March 23, 2026 10:03

EItanya requested a review from peterj as a code owner March 23, 2026 10:03

Merge branch 'main' into eitanya/default-pod-labels

65b331a

Copilot started reviewing on behalf of EItanya March 23, 2026 10:03 View session

Copilot AI reviewed Mar 23, 2026

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EItanya and others added 4 commits March 23, 2026 10:10

chore: remove selective export from Makefile

963577f

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com> Signed-off-by: Eitan Yarmush <eitan.yarmush@solo.io>

fix: use strings.SplitSeq for lint compliance

fa2634c

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com> Signed-off-by: Eitan Yarmush <eitan.yarmush@solo.io>

iplay88keys reviewed Mar 23, 2026

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iplay88keys previously approved these changes Mar 23, 2026

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EItanya dismissed iplay88keys’s stale review via c1dcf84 March 23, 2026 18:04

test: add env var test for label values containing equals signs

cc45428

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com> Signed-off-by: Eitan Yarmush <eitan.yarmush@solo.io>

iplay88keys approved these changes Mar 23, 2026

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EItanya merged commit 83ae4ca into main Mar 24, 2026
22 checks passed

EItanya deleted the eitanya/default-pod-labels branch March 24, 2026 08:04

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feat: add --default-agent-pod-labels flag for global agent pod labels#1534

feat: add --default-agent-pod-labels flag for global agent pod labels#1534
EItanya merged 8 commits intomainfrom
eitanya/default-pod-labels

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		@@ -1,6 +1,5 @@
		# Load local overrides (gitignored) — e.g. KAGENT_HELM_EXTRA_ARGS=-f helm/kagent/values.local.yaml
		-include .env

		target = map[string]string{"team": "platform"}
		assert.Equal(t, "team=platform", mv.String())

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EItanya commented Mar 23, 2026

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