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Workload Generation

When a CI workflow builds a container image, the next step is creating a Workload CR in the control plane. OpenChoreo provides a special-cased mechanism for this using a specific Argo Workflow step name and output parameter.

How It Works​

The WorkflowRun controller watches for a specific pattern in the Argo Workflow output:

  1. If the Argo Workflow contains a step named generate-workload-cr
  2. And that step has an output parameter named workload-cr
  3. The controller reads the Workload CR YAML from that output
  4. And creates/updates the Workload resource in the control plane

The controller also adds a dedicated condition to track this:

  • WorkloadUpdated: True — Workload CR successfully created/updated
  • WorkloadUpdated: False (reason: WorkloadUpdateFailed) — Failed to create/update
important

The step name generate-workload-cr and output parameter name workload-cr are required by convention. The controller specifically looks for these names.

# In the ClusterWorkflowTemplate
- name: generate-workload-cr
  outputs:
    parameters:
      - name: workload-cr
        valueFrom:
          path: /mnt/vol/workload-cr.yaml

Alternatives to generate-workload-cr​

The generate-workload-cr step is optional. There are other ways to create a Workload:

Uses the occ workload create CLI command inside the Argo Workflow. The controller reads the output and creates the Workload in the control plane.

# In ClusterWorkflowTemplate
- name: generate-workload-cr
  container:
    image: openchoreo-cli:latest
    command: [occ, workload, create]
    args:
      - --image={{steps.publish-image.outputs.parameters.image}}
      - --descriptor=workload.yaml
      - --output=/mnt/vol/workload-cr.yaml
  outputs:
    parameters:
      - name: workload-cr
        valueFrom:
          path: /mnt/vol/workload-cr.yaml

Option 2: Call the OpenChoreo API Server​

Create the Workload by calling the API server directly from your workflow step:

POST /api/v1/namespaces/{namespace}/projects/{project}/components/{component}/workloads
Authorization: Bearer <token>
Content-Type: application/json

This approach doesn't require the generate-workload-cr step name convention.

Option 3: Manual Creation​

Find the image reference in the WorkflowRun status and create the Workload CR manually or through GitOps.

Workload Descriptor​

When using occ workload create (Option 1), you can provide a workload descriptor YAML file in your source repository:

# workload.yaml - place in your source repository
apiVersion: openchoreo.dev/v1alpha1

metadata:
  name: reading-list-service

endpoints:
  - name: reading-list-api
    port: 5000
    type: REST
    schemaFile: openapi.yaml

configurations:
  env:
    - name: LOG_LEVEL
      value: info
    - name: APP_ENV
      value: production
  files:
    - name: app-config
      mountPath: /etc/config/app.json
      value: |
        {"feature_flags": {"new_feature": true}}
  • With descriptor: Full workload specification with endpoints, connections, and configurations
  • Without descriptor: Basic workload with just the container image

See Also​