stakater/Reloader
Reloader
Reloader is a Kubernetes custom controller designed to automate pod restarts and synchronize running workloads with external configuration stores. It functions as a configuration reloader that triggers rolling upgrades for pods whenever referenced ConfigMaps or Secrets are updated.
The tool distinguishes itself by integrating with external secret managers, CSI drivers, and GitOps workflows to ensure workloads are restarted when secrets from external stores change. It utilizes targeted filtering via labels and annotations to control which resources or namespaces trigger restarts, and it can pause deployment updates to prevent frequent restart loops.
The project covers broad capability areas including configuration change monitoring, workload orchestration for Deployments and StatefulSets, and an alert system that sends notifications to external endpoints via webhooks.
Installation and management of the controller are supported via Helm charts.
Features
- Kubernetes Controllers - Implements a specialized operator that monitors the Kubernetes API to automate pod restarts during configuration updates.
- Restart Automation - Automates pod restarts by monitoring configuration changes and updating resource metadata.
- Cloud Native Orchestration - Manages the synchronization between external configuration stores and running Kubernetes workloads.
- Rolling Update Controllers - Triggers zero-downtime rolling updates by modifying the pod template of deployments and statefulsets.
- Dynamic Resource Watching - Monitors Kubernetes API object changes via resource watches to trigger automated workload updates.
- Kubernetes Configuration Reloaders - Triggers rolling upgrades for pods whenever referenced Kubernetes ConfigMaps or Secrets are updated.
- Kubernetes Configurations - Automates the update of pods when Kubernetes ConfigMaps or Secrets are modified.
- Kubernetes Application Deployments - Automates rolling upgrades for Deployments and StatefulSets in response to configuration changes.
- Deployment Rolling Restarts - Triggers phased restarts of pods in a deployment to ensure the latest configuration settings are applied.
- Configuration-Triggered Restarts - Controls which configuration resources trigger a restart through automatic discovery, explicit naming, or owner-based matching.
- Workload Orchestration - Manages the lifecycle of pods by coordinating restarts and rolling updates.
- Secret-Driven Reloads - Triggers automated workload refreshes by monitoring secret provider status resources from external stores.
- Resource Change Monitors - Watches for updates to ConfigMaps and Secrets to trigger automated rolling upgrades of dependent workloads.
- Workload Reload Exclusions - Restricts reload triggers to specific resources or namespaces using label selectors or explicit ignore annotations.
- Annotation-Based Target Selection - Identifies which workloads to restart by scanning for specific metadata keys and values within resource definitions.
- GitOps State Synchronization - Synchronizes the live state of workloads with configuration changes delivered via GitOps pipelines.
- Restart Delay Policies - Delays rolling upgrades for a specified duration to prevent frequent restarts during rapid configuration changes.
- Restart Trigger Mechanisms - Determines how updates are triggered by injecting environment variables, updating metadata, or deleting pods.
- Automated Secret Rotation - Automatically restarts workloads when secrets from external managers or CSI drivers are updated.
- Secret Management Integrations - Integrates with external secret managers, CSI drivers, and GitOps tools to synchronize secret changes with running pods.
- Workload Version Tracking - Updates workload labels or environment variables to track configuration versions and prevent redundant restart cycles.
- Automation and CI/CD - Triggers rolling upgrades based on configuration changes.
- Configuration and Policy - Triggers rolling upgrades when ConfigMaps or Secrets change.
