configure-skaffold

/configure:skaffold

Check and configure Skaffold against project standards.

When to Use This Skill

Use this skill when...	Use another approach when...
Checking Skaffold configuration compliance for a Kubernetes project	Project has no k8s/ or helm/ directories (Skaffold is not applicable)
Fixing port forwarding security issues (binding to 0.0.0.0)	Managing Kubernetes manifests or Helm charts directly
Adding dotenvx hooks for secret generation in Skaffold	Configuring container builds without Kubernetes (use /configure:dockerfile)
Upgrading Skaffold API version to latest	Debugging Skaffold runtime errors (use system-debugging agent)
Creating a standard skaffold.yaml from template	Setting up a non-Skaffold local dev workflow (e.g., Docker Compose)

Context

• K8s/Helm directories: !find . -maxdepth 1 -type d \( -name 'k8s' -o -name 'helm' \)
• Skaffold config: !find . -maxdepth 1 -name \'skaffold.yaml\'
• Skaffold API version: !grep -m1 apiVersion skaffold.yaml
• Port forward config: !grep -m1 address skaffold.yaml
• Profiles defined: !grep -m10 'name:' skaffold.yaml
• Generate-secrets script: !find . -maxdepth 1 -name \'scripts/generate-secrets.sh\'
• Dotenvx available: !command -v dotenvx
• Project standards: !find . -maxdepth 1 -name '.project-standards.yaml' -type f

Skills referenced: skaffold-standards, container-development, skaffold-orbstack

Applicability: Only for projects with Kubernetes deployment (k8s/, helm/ directories)

Parameters

Parse these from $ARGUMENTS:

Flag	Description
--check-only	Report status without offering fixes
--fix	Apply fixes automatically

Version Checking

CRITICAL: Before configuring Skaffold, verify latest versions:

1. Skaffold: Check skaffold.dev or GitHub releases
2. API version: Current recommended is skaffold/v4beta13
3. dotenvx: Check dotenvx.com for latest patterns

Use WebSearch or WebFetch to verify current Skaffold version and API version.

Execution

Execute this Skaffold compliance check:

Step 1: Check applicability

Check for k8s/ or helm/ directories. If neither is found, report "SKIP: Skaffold not applicable (no Kubernetes manifests)" and stop. If found, proceed to check for skaffold.yaml.

Step 2: Parse configuration

Read skaffold.yaml and extract:

• API version
• Build configuration (local.push, useBuildkit)
• Deploy configuration (kubeContext, statusCheck)
• Port forwarding (addresses)
• Profiles defined
• Hooks (dotenvx integration)

Step 3: Analyze compliance

Check each setting against these standards:

Check	Standard	Severity
API version	skaffold/v4beta13	WARN if older
local.push	false	FAIL if true
portForward.address	127.0.0.1	FAIL if missing/0.0.0.0
useBuildkit	true	WARN if false
kubeContext	orbstack	INFO (recommended for local dev)
dotenvx hooks	Build or deploy hooks	INFO (recommended for secrets)

Security-critical: Port forwarding MUST bind to localhost only (127.0.0.1). Never allow 0.0.0.0 or missing address.

Recommended settings:

• db-only or services-only profile for local dev workflow
• statusCheck: true with reasonable deadline (180s for init containers)
• tolerateFailuresUntilDeadline: true for graceful pod initialization
• JSON log parsing for structured application logs
• dotenvx hooks for secrets generation from .env files

Step 4: Report results

Print a compliance report with:

• Skaffold file location and API version
• Each configuration check result (PASS/WARN/FAIL)
• Profiles found
• Scripts status (generate-secrets.sh)
• Overall compliance status

If --check-only, stop here.

Step 5: Apply fixes (if --fix or user confirms)

1. Missing skaffold.yaml: Create from standard template in REFERENCE.md
2. Security issues: Fix port forwarding addresses to 127.0.0.1
3. Missing profiles: Add db-only profile template
4. Outdated API: Update apiVersion to v4beta13
5. Missing dotenvx hooks: Add secrets generation hook
6. Missing scripts: Create scripts/generate-secrets.sh from template in REFERENCE.md
7. Missing kubeContext: Add orbstack for local development

Step 6: Update standards tracking

Update .project-standards.yaml:

components:
  skaffold: "2025.1"

Agentic Optimizations

Context	Command
Quick compliance check	/configure:skaffold --check-only
Auto-fix all issues	/configure:skaffold --fix
Check API version	head -5 skaffold.yaml | grep apiVersion
Check port forwarding security	grep -A2 'portForward' skaffold.yaml | grep address
List profiles	grep 'name:' skaffold.yaml | grep -v metadata

Security Note

Port forwarding without address: 127.0.0.1 exposes services to the network. This is a FAIL condition that should always be fixed.

For the standard Skaffold template, dotenvx integration patterns, and generate-secrets script template, see REFERENCE.md.

See Also

• /configure:dockerfile - Container configuration
• /configure:all - Run all compliance checks
• skaffold-standards skill - Skaffold patterns