akua / cli / render

akua render

Shipped

Run the Package's program. Evaluate the KCL, invoke every source engine (Helm, kro, Kustomize), compose results, produce deploy-ready manifests.

akua render [path] [flags]

Discovery. With no path, renders every user-authored document in the workspace whose schema declares render semantics — typically the workspace's App-shaped documents that reference a Package and carry inputs. With a path, renders only that file. Users author their own App / Environment / etc. schemas (akua does not specify them; see package-format.md); render processes whichever documents the workspace declares as renderable.

Not the same as akua export. render executes the full pipeline against customer inputs and writes manifests a reconciler applies to a cluster. export converts a canonical artifact (schema, user-authored KCL document, policy bundle) into a format view (JSON Schema, YAML, OpenAPI, Rego bundle). Render needs inputs; export usually doesn't. Render invokes engines; export is format translation. See akua export below.

Flags

flag	description
`--package=<path>`	path to the `package.k` file (default `./package.k`)
`--inputs=<file>`	inputs file (JSON or YAML). When omitted, probes `./inputs.yaml` then `./inputs.example.yaml` next to the package; falls back to schema defaults if neither exists
`--out=<dir>`	write to directory (default: `./deploy/`)
`--stdout`	print rendered manifests as multi-doc YAML to stdout instead of writing files
`--dry-run`	render but don't write files

Engines. Helm and Akua-package composition reach the user via alias-method calls — webapp.template(webapp.TemplateOpts{values = webapp.Values{...}}), upstream.render(upstream.Input{...}) — synthesized per dep from akua.toml. Kustomize stays engine-direct (kustomize.build({path = "./overlays"})) because its input is a within-Package directory, not a typed dep. All backends ship as embedded WASM modules; akua never shells out to helm or kustomize binaries — every engine runs inside the wasmtime sandbox alongside the render worker. See docs/security-model.md and docs/embedded-engines.md. One render output. akua writes raw YAML manifests, one file per resource. Distribution shapes like Helm charts or OCI bundles are future akua publish --as <format> concerns — they wrap rendered manifests at distribution time, not as a Package-declared output.

Exit codes

0 success, 1 user error, 2 system error. (Phase B adds 3 for policy deny.)

JSON output

{
  "format": "raw-manifests",
  "target": "./deploy",
  "manifests": 1,
  "hash": "sha256:…",
  "files": ["000-configmap-hello.yaml"]
}

format is always "raw-manifests" today. target is the resolved output directory. hash is sha256:<hex> of the concatenated <filename>\n<yaml> blocks — stable across runs when inputs + lockfile + akua version match.