Why?

Because we can't begin to agree on how to do this in a standard way. The whole idea of git oriented flows seems to be an afterthought rather than being considered an important part of a standard production k8s deployment from the start. Here are some competing options I see after a quick glance in this thread:

  - kubectl apply -k ./deploy --prune
  - heml install
  - helm template + kubectl apply + kubectl diff
  - Kustomize
  - Argo CD
  - Octopus
  - JSONNet
  - Cue
  - Pulumi

And because this is an advanced topic (most of the above require a large investment reading docs and github issues), I'm guessing many/most people never get beyond ad-hoc kubectl commands and letting their cluster run wild.

Funny that most of those things don't compete: helm template and helm install are two entirely different things. Argo CD is just a way to deliver manifests to your cluster - manifests could originate from helm template, kustomize, raw manifests or JSONNet.

kubectl apply -k is...well...Kustomize...

There is a big distinction between first party software and third-party software. Helm is fine for first party software because you control the chart, but awful for 3rd party software because charts often don't have level of customization you need.

Reinstalling shit with kustomize that was installed with helm is like 1/4 of my time at work.

Kustomize won't get you 100% though because something has to generate base files first.

k8s doesn't need to solve every aspect of life.

And I'm quite happy, if not by far most happy about my helm + kustomize + argocd workflow.

None of it is complicated but works tremendously well.

oh! oh! Don't forget about embedding your k8s manifests and/or helm installs in terraform, and using `terraform apply` to push them out