feat: allow running with vanilla k8s (#3)

* enable websockets (#4)

Signed-off-by: Peter Jausovec <peter.jausovec@solo.io>
Co-authored-by: Peter Jausovec <peter.jausovec@solo.io>

* feat: allow running with vanilla k8s

- add a helm chart
- allow JWT auth instead of mTLS

* update helm chart images

* fix rbac. note that JWT verification is not cached and might not work on some k8s distributions that not expose the JWKS

* fix: add chart boilerplate headers

* fix: support jwt helm install on plain kind

* feat: add substrate crds helm chart

* feat: make jwt helm installs standalone

* fix: make helm defaults cloud-neutral

* fix: sync crd chart templates

* fix: use agentgateway in helm chart

* fix: update agentgateway install overlays

* fix: project agentgateway tls key separately

---------

Signed-off-by: Peter Jausovec <peter.jausovec@solo.io>
Co-authored-by: Eitan Yarmush <eitan.yarmush@solo.io>
Co-authored-by: Peter Jausovec <peter.jausovec@solo.io>

Author: 3 people

.github/workflows/release.yaml

@@ -67,6 +67,9 @@ jobs:
       - name: Install ko
         uses: ko-build/setup-ko@v0.7
 
+      - name: Install Helm
+        uses: azure/setup-helm@v4
+
       - name: Log in to GHCR
         uses: docker/login-action@v3
         with:
@@ -85,7 +88,7 @@ jobs:
         run: |
           set -o errexit -o nounset -o pipefail
 
-          for component in ateapi atelet ateom-gvisor podcertcontroller atenet; do
+          for component in ateapi atecontroller atelet ateom-gvisor podcertcontroller atenet; do
             KO_DOCKER_REPO="${IMAGE_REPOSITORY}/${component}" \
             ./hack/run-tool.sh ko build \
               --tags "${IMAGE_TAGS}" \
@@ -94,6 +97,36 @@ jobs:
               "./cmd/${component}"
           done
 
+      - name: Package and push Helm charts
+        if: inputs.create_release
+        env:
+          HELM_EXPERIMENTAL_OCI: "1"
+          CHART_REPOSITORY: oci://ghcr.io/kagent-dev/substrate/helm
+        run: |
+          set -o errexit -o nounset -o pipefail
+
+          tag="${{ steps.tag.outputs.value }}"
+          chart_version="${tag#v}"
+          package_dir="${RUNNER_TEMP}/helm-packages"
+          mkdir -p "${package_dir}"
+
+          echo "${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}" \
+            | helm registry login ghcr.io \
+              --username "${{ github.actor }}" \
+              --password-stdin
+
+          helm package charts/substrate-crds \
+            --destination "${package_dir}" \
+            --version "${chart_version}" \
+            --app-version "${tag}"
+          helm package charts/substrate \
+            --destination "${package_dir}" \
+            --version "${chart_version}" \
+            --app-version "${tag}"
+
+          helm push "${package_dir}/substrate-crds-${chart_version}.tgz" "${CHART_REPOSITORY}"
+          helm push "${package_dir}/substrate-${chart_version}.tgz" "${CHART_REPOSITORY}"
+
       - name: Create GitHub Release
         if: inputs.create_release
         uses: softprops/action-gh-release@v2

Makefile

@@ -40,9 +40,10 @@ build: build-images build-atectl
 
 .PHONY: build-images
 build-images:
-	$(KO) build \
+	$(KO) build --base-import-paths \
 	    --ldflags="$(LDFLAGS)" \
 	    ./cmd/ateapi \
+	    ./cmd/atecontroller \
 	    ./cmd/atelet \
 	    ./cmd/podcertcontroller \
 	    ./cmd/atenet
@@ -96,3 +97,19 @@ verify: test
 .PHONY: clean
 clean:
 	rm -rf $(BINDIR)
+
+# Render the substrate Helm chart into manifests/ate-install/ (mTLS mode,
+# the historical default install). Run this whenever charts/substrate/ changes.
+.PHONY: helm-template
+helm-template:
+	@./hack/render-manifests.sh
+
+# Verify that manifests/ate-install/ matches the chart output. Used in CI.
+.PHONY: verify-helm-template
+verify-helm-template:
+	@./hack/render-manifests.sh --check
+
+# Verify that the CRD chart mirrors the generated CRDs.
+.PHONY: verify-crd-chart
+verify-crd-chart:
+	@./hack/verify/crd-chart.sh

README.md

@@ -89,10 +89,10 @@ To quickly set up the complete environment:
 2. Run the following steps:
 ```shell
 # create cluster and local registry
-hack/create-kind-cluster.sh
+KIND_ENABLE_PODCERT=false hack/create-kind-cluster.sh
 
-# install ate, valkey, rustfs
-hack/install-ate-kind.sh --deploy-ate-system
+# install ate, valkey, rustfs using Helm in JWT mode
+hack/install-ate-kind-jwt.sh
 
 # install counter demo
 hack/install-ate-kind.sh --deploy-demo-counter
@@ -113,6 +113,21 @@ kubectl port-forward -n ate-system svc/atenet-router 8000:80
 curl -X POST -H "Host: my-counter-1.demo.actors.resources.substrate.ate.dev" -i http://localhost:8000/
 ```
 
+#### mTLS mode
+
+JWT mode is the default install path and does not require pod certificate
+feature gates. To test the older mTLS path, create kind with the
+`ClusterTrustBundle` / `PodCertificateRequest` feature gates enabled and use the
+mTLS install helper.
+
+```shell
+# create cluster WITH podcert feature gates
+hack/create-kind-cluster.sh
+
+# install ate using the mTLS manifests path
+hack/install-ate-kind.sh --deploy-ate-system
+```
+
 ### GKE Quickstart (Development)
 
 1. Create and configure your environment file:

charts/substrate-crds/Chart.yaml

@@ -0,0 +1,28 @@
+# Copyright 2026 Google LLC
+#
+# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+# you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+# You may obtain a copy of the License at
+#
+#     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+#
+# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+# limitations under the License.
+
+apiVersion: v2
+name: substrate-crds
+description: Agent Substrate CustomResourceDefinitions.
+type: application
+version: 0.1.0
+appVersion: "0.1.0"
+home: https://github.com/agent-substrate/substrate
+sources:
+- https://github.com/agent-substrate/substrate
+keywords:
+- agent
+- actor
+- substrate
+- crds

charts/substrate-crds/README.md

@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+# substrate-crds
+
+Helm chart for installing the Agent Substrate CRDs.
+
+Install this chart before installing the main `substrate` chart:
+
+```bash
+helm upgrade --install substrate-crds ./charts/substrate-crds
+helm upgrade --install substrate ./charts/substrate --namespace ate-system --create-namespace
+```
+
+The CRD YAMLs in `templates/` mirror `manifests/ate-install/generated/`.
+Run `hack/verify/crd-chart.sh` to verify they are in sync.