Managing Directories

Even with a minimal kustomization.yaml, Kustomize lets you orchestrate Kubernetes manifests across many folders—no extra scripting required.

Flat Directory Structure

When you start small, a single directory often suffices:

k8s/
├── api-depl.yaml
├── api-service.yaml
├── db-depl.yaml
└── db-service.yaml

To deploy all resources at once:

kubectl apply -f k8s/

This is plain Kubernetes—no Kustomize features yet.

Introducing Subdirectories

As your manifest count grows, you might split them:

k8s/
├── api/
│   ├── api-depl.yaml
│   └── api-service.yaml
└── db/
    ├── db-depl.yaml
    └── db-service.yaml

Now deployment requires two commands:

kubectl apply -f k8s/api/
kubectl apply -f k8s/db/

Manually running kubectl apply in each subfolder can be error-prone and difficult to automate in CI/CD.

Single Root kustomization.yaml

Instead of listing directories every time, create a single kustomization.yaml at k8s/:

apiVersion: kustomize.config.k8s.io/v1beta1
kind: Kustomization

resources:
  - api/api-depl.yaml
  - api/api-service.yaml
  - db/db-depl.yaml
  - db/db-service.yaml

Then deploy with one of these commands:

kustomize build k8s/ | kubectl apply -f -
# or
kubectl apply -k k8s/

kubectl apply -k invokes Kustomize natively—you don’t need the standalone binary.

When the Resource List Grows

Adding more services (e.g., cache/, kafka/) quickly makes the root manifest unwieldy:

k8s/
├── api/
├── db/
├── cache/
│   ├── redis-config.yaml
│   ├── redis-depl.yaml
│   └── redis-service.yaml
└── kafka/
    ├── kafka-config.yaml
    ├── kafka-depl.yaml
    └── kafka-service.yaml

A flat list of ten or more files in one kustomization.yaml is hard to maintain.

Nested kustomization.yaml Files

A cleaner pattern is to give each subdirectory its own kustomization.yaml: k8s/api/kustomization.yaml

apiVersion: kustomize.config.k8s.io/v1beta1
kind: Kustomization

resources:
  - api-depl.yaml
  - api-service.yaml

k8s/db/kustomization.yaml

apiVersion: kustomize.config.k8s.io/v1beta1
kind: Kustomization

resources:
  - db-depl.yaml
  - db-service.yaml

Repeat for cache/ and kafka/. Then simplify your root kustomization.yaml:

apiVersion: kustomize.config.k8s.io/v1beta1
kind: Kustomization

resources:
  - api/
  - db/
  - cache/
  - kafka/

Deploy everything in one go:

kubectl apply -k k8s/
# or
kustomize build k8s/ | kubectl apply -f -

This hierarchical layout keeps the root file concise and scales seamlessly.

Command Reference

Layout	Command
Flat folder	`kubectl apply -f k8s/`
Single-root Kustomization	`kubectl apply -k k8s/`
Build then apply	`kustomize build k8s/ \| kubectl apply -f -`

Managing Directories

Flat Directory Structure

Introducing Subdirectories

Single Root kustomization.yaml

When the Resource List Grows

Nested kustomization.yaml Files

Command Reference

Links and References

Watch Video

​Flat Directory Structure

​Introducing Subdirectories

​Single Root kustomization.yaml

​When the Resource List Grows

​Nested kustomization.yaml Files

​Command Reference

​Links and References

Watch Video

Flat Directory Structure

Introducing Subdirectories

Single Root kustomization.yaml

When the Resource List Grows

Nested kustomization.yaml Files

Command Reference

Links and References