action-setup-kube-tools

A GitHub Action that setup Kubernetes tools (kubectl, kustomize, helm, kubeconform, conftest, yq, rancher, tilt, skaffold, kube-score) and cache them on the runner. It is like a typescript version of stefanprodan/kube-tools with no command input param, but as compared with it, it's very fast as it installs the tools asynchronously.

Usage

Inputs

Parameter	Required	Default Value	Description
fail-fast	false	true	the action immediately fails when it fails to download (ie. due to a bad version)
arch-type	false	""	Optional. The processor architecture type of the tool binary to setup. The action will auto-detect the architecture (amd64 or arm64) and use it as appropriate at runtime. Specify the architecture type (amd64 or arm64) only if you need to force it.
setup-tools	false	""	List of tool name to setup. By default, the action download and setup all supported Kubernetes tools. By specifying setup-tools you can choose which tools the action setup. Supported separator is return in multi-line string. Supported tools are kubectl, kustomize, helm, helmv3, kubeval, conftest, yq, rancher, tilt, skaffold, kube-score
kubectl	false	latest	kubectl version or latest. kubectl versions can be found here
kustomize	false	latest	kustomize version or latest. kustomize versions can be found here
helm	false	latest	helm version or latest. helm versions can be found here
kubeval	false	latest	kubeval version (must be 0.16.1+) or latest. kubeval versions can be found here. NOTE: this parameter is deprecating as kubeval is no longer maintained. A good replacement is kubeconform. See also this for more details.
kubeconform	false	latest	kubeconform version or latest. kubeconform versions can be found here
conftest	false	latest	conftest version or latest. conftest versions can be found here
yq	false	latest	yq version or latest. yq versions can be found here
rancher	false	latest	Rancher CLI version or latest. Rancher CLI versions can be found here
tilt	false	latest	Tilt version or latest. Tilt versions can be found here
skaffold	false	latest	Skaffold version or latest. Skaffold versions can be found here
kube-score	false	latest	kube-score version or latest. kube-score versions can be found here

Note

• Supported Environments: Linux
• From v0.7.0, the action supports tool version 'v' prefix. Prior to v0.7.0, the action only accept the tool version without 'v' prefix but from v0.7.0 the action automatically add/remove the prefix as necessary
• From v0.13.0, all tools use latest as the default version. However, using latest can make builds non-reproducible, as the installed version may change over time. For stable and repeatable builds, it is recommended to specify exact versions

Outputs

Parameter	Description
kubectl-path	kubectl command path if the action setup the tool, otherwise empty string
kustomize-path	kustomize command path if the action setup the tool, otherwise empty string
helm-path	helm command path if the action setup the tool, otherwise empty string
kubeval-path	kubeval command path if the action setup the tool, otherwise empty string
kubeconform-path	kubeconform command path if the action setup the tool, otherwise empty string
conftest-path	conftest command path if the action setup the tool, otherwise empty string
yq-path	yq command path if the action setup the tool, otherwise empty string
rancher-path	rancher command path if the action setup the tool, otherwise empty string
tilt-path	rancher command path if the action setup the tool, otherwise empty string
skaffold-path	rancher command path if the action setup the tool, otherwise empty string
kube-score-path:	rancher command path if the action setup the tool, otherwise empty string

Sample Workflow

Pinned versions (reproducible):

  test: 
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
    - uses: actions/checkout@v4
    - uses: yokawasa/action-setup-kube-tools@v0.13.0
      with:
        kubectl: '1.25'
        kustomize: '5.0.0'
        helm: '3.11.1'
        kubeconform: '0.5.0'
        conftest: '0.39.0'
        rancher: '2.7.0'
        tilt: '0.31.2'
        skaffold: '2.1.0'
        kube-score: '1.16.1'
    - run: |
        kubectl version --client
        kustomize version
        helm version
        kubeconform -v
        conftest --version
        yq --version
        rancher --version
        tilt version
        skaffold version
        kube-score version

Default behavior (latest) — no inputs:

  test: 
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
    - uses: actions/checkout@v4
    - uses: yokawasa/action-setup-kube-tools@v0.13.0
    - run: |
        kubectl version --client
        kustomize version
        helm version
        kubeconform -v
        conftest --version
        yq --version
        rancher --version
        tilt version
        skaffold version
        kube-score version

Selecting tools with default latest versions (using setup-tools):

  test: 
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
    - uses: actions/checkout@v4
    - uses: yokawasa/action-setup-kube-tools@v0.13.0
      with:
        setup-tools: |
          kubectl
          helm
          kustomize
          skaffold
    - run: |
        kubectl version --client
        kustomize version
        helm version
        skaffold version

Architecture is automatically detected on the runner (amd64 or arm64). You can optionally force it by specifying arch-type: 'amd64' or arch-type: 'arm64'.

  test: 
    steps:
    - uses: actions/checkout@v4
    - uses: yokawasa/action-setup-kube-tools@v0.13.0
      with:
        # arch-type is optional; uncomment to force arm64
        # arch-type: 'arm64'
        setup-tools: |
          kubectl
          helm
          kustomize
          skaffold
    - run: |
        kubectl version --client
        kustomize version
        helm version
        skaffold version

Explicit latest inputs (optional):

```yaml
  steps:
  - uses: actions/checkout@v4
  - uses: yokawasa/action-setup-kube-tools@v0.13.0
    with:
      kubectl: latest
      helm: latest
      kustomize: latest
      skaffold: latest

Note: Using latest makes builds non-reproducible since versions can change over time. Prefer pinning exact versions for stability.

Developing the action

Install the dependencies

npm install

Build the typescript and package it for distribution by running ncc

npm run build && npm run format && npm run lint && npm run pack

Finally push the results

git add dist
git commit -a -m "prod dependencies"
git push origin releases/v0.13.X

References

• https://kubernetes.io/releases/
• https://github.com/kubernetes-sigs/kustomize/releases
• https://github.com/helm/helm/releases
• https://helm.sh/docs/topics/version_skew/
• https://github.com/instrumenta/kubeval/releases
• https://github.com/open-policy-agent/conftest/releases
• https://github.com/mikefarah/yq/releases
• https://github.com/rancher/cli/releases
• https://github.com/tilt-dev/tilt/releases
• https://github.com/GoogleContainerTools/skaffold/releases
• https://github.com/zegl/kube-score/releases

Contributing

Bug reports and pull requests are welcome on GitHub at https://github.com/yokawasa/action-setup-kube-tools

Changelog

Please see the list of releases for information on changes between releases.