We are using kustomize to create the yaml and argocd for deployment. All via ci and git-ops.

works really well

I prefer ytt for templating and kapp for deployments.

https://github.com/carvel-dev/carvel

ArgoCD

Yeah the whole 'git repo = helm chart' just does not feel great at all. As we all know, the only thing worse is not using helm and having to deal with writing all those service, pv, pvc, ingress yaml files individually :)

ArgoCD for relatively simple stuff.

For complex stuff I write Python or Go programs to build manifests, then shell out to kubectl apply. An old example - deploying a multi-instance modded Arma 3 server on k3s: https://github.com/dharmab/homelab-k3s/tree/main/lab

Helmsman works great:

https://github.com/mkubaczyk/helmsman

I've been working on improving a tool called kr8+, which uses jsonnet to combine cluster config and apply it to components: https://github.com/ice-bergtech/kr8

My recommendation is fluxcd for a great gitops based workflow (incorporates soap for secrets)

Kustomize is easier to manage at scale, but some upfront effort is required. Many charts are distributed as Helm packages, so you’ll often need to export them as raw YAML manifests. In an ideal setup, ArgoCD combined with Kustomize should cover most deployment needs. However, depending on your workflow, you may eventually need a way to dynamically replace variables. If the built-in tools in recent Kustomize versions aren’t sufficient, consider using envsubst as a fallback.

if you only work with your own stuff, helm is easily (and best) avoided.

i like generating k8s yaml with cue, example: https://github.com/cue-labs/cue-by-example/tree/main/003_kub...

there's also https://timoni.sh/ if you want a helm-like experience, but with cue instead of templating.

If you're working with upstream projects, unfortunately many of them will only provide helm charts, so you got to decide between rewriting them to suit your env/tool, or just live with the crappiness of helm.

+1 for Kustomize

I use Pulumi native package for Kubernetes, no more YAML, only instances of Typescript classes.