---
slug: hello-holos
title: Hello Holos
description: Configure a simple Hello World service with Holos.
sidebar_position: 30
---

import Tabs from '@theme/Tabs';
import TabItem from '@theme/TabItem';
import RenderingOverview from '@site/src/diagrams/rendering-overview.mdx';
import PlatformSequence from '@site/src/diagrams/render-platform-sequence.mdx';
import ComponentSequence from '@site/src/diagrams/render-component-sequence.mdx';
import CodeBlock from '@theme/CodeBlock';

# Hello Holos

## Overview

Like a traditional "Hello World" program, we'll start by configuring the
[podinfo Helm chart][podinfo] to output a greeting from a Kubernetes Service.
This introduces the core concept of wrapping Helm charts as Holos Components.

## Implementation

### Holos Version

Ensure you have a current version of `holos` installed.  This document was
tested with the following version.

import HolosVersionCommand from '!!raw-loader!./_hello-holos/script-01-holos-version/command.sh';
import HolosVersionOutput from '!!raw-loader!./_hello-holos/script-01-holos-version/output.txt';

<CodeBlock language="bash">{HolosVersionCommand}</CodeBlock>
<CodeBlock language="txt">{HolosVersionOutput}</CodeBlock>

### Initialize Platform Structure

Create and initialize a minimal platform:

import MkdirAndInit from '!!raw-loader!./_hello-holos/script-02-hello-holos/mkdir-and-init.sh';
import TreeOutput from '!!raw-loader!./_hello-holos/script-02-hello-holos/tree.txt';

<CodeBlock language="bash">{MkdirAndInit}</CodeBlock>

For reference, the directory structure you will attain by the end of this tutorial
is listed below (NOTE: we have omitted the `cue.mod` directory for brevity):

<Tabs groupId="80D04C6A-BC83-44D0-95CC-CE01B439B159">
<TabItem value="tree" label="Tree">
<CodeBlock language="txt" showLineNumbers>{TreeOutput}</CodeBlock>
</TabItem>
<TabItem value="details" label="Details">
<div style={{display: "flex"}}>
<div>
<CodeBlock language="txt" showLineNumbers>{TreeOutput}</CodeBlock>
</div>
<div>
- **Line 1** The platform root is the `holos-tutorial` directory we created.
- **Line 2** This tutorial places components in `components/`.  They may reside
anywhere.
- **Line 3** A component is a collection of `*.cue` files at a path.
- **Line 4** We'll create this file and configure the podinfo helm chart in the
next section.
- **Line 5** The `vendor` directory contains a cached copy of the Helm chart that
was fetched for the component.
- **Line 6**  Rendered manifests are placed within the `deploy` directory following
the structure of the `components/` directory.
- **Line 9** The platform directory is the **main entrypoint** for the `holos
render platform` command.
- **Line 10** `platform.gen.cue` is initialized by `holos init platform` and
contains the Platform spec.
- **Line 11** `podinfo.cue` integrates podinfo with the platform by adding the
component to the platform spec.  We'll add ths file after the next section.
- **Line 13** `resources.cue` Defines the Kubernetes resources available to
manage in CUE.
- **Line 14** `schema.cue` Defines the configuration common to all component
kinds.
- **Line 15** `tags.cue` Defines where component parameter values are injected
into the overall platform configuration.  We don't need to be concerned with
this file until we cover component parameters.
- **Lines 9-15** Initialized by `holos init platform`, user editable after
initialization.
</div>
</div>
</TabItem>
</Tabs>

### Create the Component

Configure the `podinfo` component:

import MkdirComponents from '!!raw-loader!./_hello-holos/script-02-hello-holos/mkdir-components.sh';
import PodinfoHeader from '!!raw-loader!./_hello-holos/script-02-hello-holos/podinfo-component-header.sh';
import PodinfoBody from '!!raw-loader!./_hello-holos/script-02-hello-holos/podinfo-component-body.cue';
import EofTrailer from '!!raw-loader!./_hello-holos/script-02-hello-holos/eof-trailer.sh';

<CodeBlock language="bash">{MkdirComponents}</CodeBlock>
<CodeBlock language="bash">{PodinfoHeader}</CodeBlock>
<CodeBlock language="cue" showLineNumbers>{PodinfoBody}</CodeBlock>
<CodeBlock language="bash">{EofTrailer}</CodeBlock>

:::important
Like Go packages, CUE loads all `*.cue` files in the component directory to
define the component.
:::

:::note
CUE recursively loads `*.cue` files from the component directory up to the
platform root. For example, `#Helm` referenced on line 6 is defined in
root-level `schema.cue`.
:::

### Add to Platform

Register the `podinfo` component in `platform/podinfo.cue`:

import RegisterPodinfoHeader from '!!raw-loader!./_hello-holos/script-02-hello-holos/register-podinfo-header.sh';
import RegisterPodinfoBody from '!!raw-loader!./_hello-holos/script-02-hello-holos/register-podinfo-body.cue';

<CodeBlock language="bash">{RegisterPodinfoHeader}</CodeBlock>
<CodeBlock language="cue" showLineNumbers>{RegisterPodinfoBody}</CodeBlock>
<CodeBlock language="bash">{EofTrailer}</CodeBlock>

:::tip
Parameter names are unrestricted, except for the reserved `holos_` prefix.
:::

## Generate Manifests

Render the `podinfo` configuration:

import RenderCommand from '!!raw-loader!./_hello-holos/script-02-hello-holos/render.sh';
import RegisterComponentsOutput from '!!raw-loader!./_hello-holos/script-02-hello-holos/register-components-output.txt';

<Tabs groupId="E150C802-7162-4FBF-82A7-77D9ADAEE847">
  <TabItem value="command" label="Command">
    <CodeBlock language="bash">{RenderCommand}</CodeBlock>
  </TabItem>
  <TabItem value="output" label="Output">
    <CodeBlock language="txt">{RegisterComponentsOutput}</CodeBlock>
  </TabItem>
</Tabs>

Holos executes `helm template` with locally cached charts to generate:

import PodinfoRenderedPath from '!!raw-loader!./_hello-holos/script-02-hello-holos/podinfo-rendered-path.sh';
import RenderedService from '!!raw-loader!./_hello-holos/script-02-hello-holos/rendered-service.yaml';
import RenderedDeployment from '!!raw-loader!./_hello-holos/script-02-hello-holos/rendered-deployment.yaml';

<CodeBlock language="txt">{PodinfoRenderedPath}</CodeBlock>

<Tabs groupId="0E9C231D-D0E8-410A-A4A0-601842A086A6">
  <TabItem value="service" label="Service">
    <CodeBlock language="yaml" showLineNumbers>{RenderedService}</CodeBlock>
  </TabItem>
  <TabItem value="deployment" label="Deployment">
    <CodeBlock language="yaml" showLineNumbers>{RenderedDeployment}</CodeBlock>
  </TabItem>
</Tabs>

Holos renders the component with the greeting injected from the platform spec.

import GrepForMessage from '!!raw-loader!./_hello-holos/script-02-hello-holos/grep-for-message.sh';
import GreppedOutput from '!!raw-loader!./_hello-holos/script-02-hello-holos/grepped-output.txt';

<CodeBlock language="bash">{GrepForMessage}</CodeBlock>
<CodeBlock language="yaml">{GreppedOutput}</CodeBlock>

## Breaking it down

We run `holos render platform` because the CUE files in the platform directory
export a [Platform] resource to `holos`.

:::important
The `platform/` directory is the default entry point to the platform rendering
process.  Override with `--platform <dir>`.
:::

Components are the building blocks of a Platform. The `platform/podinfo.cue`
file integrates the `podinfo` component with the Platform.

Holos requires two fields to integrate a component with the platform:

1. A unique name for the component.
2. The component path to the directory containing the CUE files that export a
`BuildPlan` defining the component.

Component parameters are optional and allow re-use of the same component.

<Tabs groupId="67C1EE71-3EA8-4568-9F6D-0072BA09FF12">
  <TabItem value="overview" label="Rendering Overview">
    Take a look at the other tabs for more detailed sequence diagrams.
    <RenderingOverview />
  </TabItem>
  <TabItem value="platform" label="Platform Sequence">
    <PlatformSequence />
  </TabItem>
  <TabItem value="component" label="Component Sequence">
    <ComponentSequence />
  </TabItem>
</Tabs>

## Next Steps

We've shown how to integrate one Helm chart into the Platform, but we haven't
yet covered multiple Helm charts. Continue with the next tutorial to learn how
Holos makes it easy to inject values into multiple components safely and
efficiently.

[podinfo]: https://github.com/stefanprodan/podinfo
[CUE Module]: https://cuelang.org/docs/reference/modules/
[CUE Tags]: https://cuelang.org/docs/howto/inject-value-into-evaluation-using-tag-attribute/
[Platform]: ../api/author.md#Platform