YAML Editor

Overview

The YAML Editor provides a powerful in-browser editing experience for Kubernetes manifests. Built on Monaco Editor (the same editor powering VS Code), it offers syntax highlighting, auto-completion, and real-time validation.

Opening the Editor

Access the YAML editor from several places:

Deployment Detail
Repository Browser
List View

Click “Edit YAML” button on deployment detail page

Navigate to Deployment

Go to Deployments → Click deployment name

Click Edit YAML

Button in top-right of detail page

Editor Opens

Modal displays full YAML manifest

Editor Features

Syntax Highlighting

Colored by token type:

Blue: Keys (metadata, spec, containers)
Green: String values
Orange: Numbers and booleans
Gray: Comments
Red: Syntax errors

Auto-completion

Intelligent suggestions:

Key Suggestions

Type partial key name for suggestions:

spec:
  temp|    # Suggests: template, terminationGracePeriodSeconds

Resource Types

Kubernetes resource type suggestions:

kind: D|   # Suggests: Deployment, DaemonSet, etc.

Enum Values

Known value suggestions:

imagePullPolicy: |   # Suggests: Always, IfNotPresent, Never

Snippets

Common patterns:Type container → Full container template Type probe → Health probe template Type volume → Volume mount template

Trigger:

Automatic after typing
Manual: Ctrl+Space (Windows/Linux) or Cmd+Space (Mac)

Error Detection

Real-time validation:

Syntax Errors
Schema Errors
Hover for Details

Red squiggly underlines for YAML syntax issuesExamples:

Invalid indentation
Missing colons
Quote mismatch
Invalid characters

spec
  replicas 3    # Error: Missing colons

Yellow underlines for Kubernetes schema violationsExamples:

Unknown fields
Wrong value types
Missing required fields

spec:
  replicaCount: 3    # Warning: Should be "replicas"

Hover over errors for explanation:

⚠️ Property "replicaCount" is not allowed
Did you mean "replicas"?

Code Actions

Right-click for quick actions:

Quick Fixes

Automatic fixes for common issuesExample:

imagePullPolicy: always    # Lowercase

Quick Fix: Change to "Always"

Refactoring

Code improvements:

Extract to ConfigMap
Move to Secret
Add resource limits

Go to Definition

Jump to resource definitions:

ConfigMap reference → View ConfigMap
Secret reference → View Secret

Keyboard Shortcuts

Action	Windows/Linux	Mac
Save	Ctrl+S	Cmd+S
Find	Ctrl+F	Cmd+F
Replace	Ctrl+H	Cmd+H
Undo	Ctrl+Z	Cmd+Z
Redo	Ctrl+Y	Cmd+Shift+Z
Comment Line	Ctrl+/	Cmd+/
Format Document	Shift+Alt+F	Shift+Option+F
Go to Line	Ctrl+G	Cmd+G
Multi-cursor	Alt+Click	Option+Click
Select All Occurrences	Ctrl+Shift+L	Cmd+Shift+L

Multi-cursor Editing

Edit multiple locations simultaneously:

Add Cursors

Alt+Click to add cursor
Ctrl+Alt+↑/↓ to add cursor above/below

Select Occurrences

Ctrl+D to select next occurrence
Ctrl+Shift+L to select all occurrences

Edit

Type to edit all selected locations at once

Example: Change all nginx:1.20 to nginx:1.21:

Select nginx:1.20
Press Ctrl+Shift+L
Type nginx:1.21

Common Editing Tasks

Update Container Image

Find Image
Change Tag
Save Changes

Search for image: in YAML

containers:
- name: app
  image: myapp:v1.0.0    # Current version

Update version tag

containers:
- name: app
  image: myapp:v1.1.0    # New version

Add Environment Variable

# Before
containers:
- name: app
  image: myapp:v1.0.0

# After
containers:
- name: app
  image: myapp:v1.0.0
  env:
  - name: LOG_LEVEL
    value: "debug"
  - name: DATABASE_URL
    valueFrom:
      secretKeyRef:
        name: db-credentials
        key: url

Update Resource Limits

# Before
resources:
  limits:
    memory: "512Mi"
    cpu: "500m"
  requests:
    memory: "256Mi"
    cpu: "250m"

# After (increased for better performance)
resources:
  limits:
    memory: "1Gi"
    cpu: "1000m"
  requests:
    memory: "512Mi"
    cpu: "500m"

Add Health Probes

# Before
containers:
- name: app
  image: myapp:v1.0.0
  ports:
  - containerPort: 8080

# After (with probes)
containers:
- name: app
  image: myapp:v1.0.0
  ports:
  - containerPort: 8080
  livenessProbe:
    httpGet:
      path: /healthz
      port: 8080
    initialDelaySeconds: 30
    periodSeconds: 10
  readinessProbe:
    httpGet:
      path: /ready
      port: 8080
    initialDelaySeconds: 5
    periodSeconds: 5

Change Replica Count

# Before
spec:
  replicas: 3

# After (scaled up)
spec:
  replicas: 5

Changing replicas in YAML won’t have immediate effect - the change must be merged and applied to the cluster

File Matching

Orphelix can automatically find the YAML file in your repository: File Matching

AI-Powered Matching

Requires: OpenAI API key configured in settings

Analyze Deployment

Extracts:

Deployment name
Namespace
Labels
Container images

Scan Repository

Reads files in repository:

YAML files
Kustomize bases
Helm values

AI Matching

Uses GPT-4o-mini to:

Compare deployment spec with files
Calculate similarity scores
Identify best match

Present Results

Shows matched file with confidence score:

✓ Found: k8s/deployments/myapp.yaml (95% confidence)

Pattern-based Matching

Fallback method when AI unavailable: Matches by filename patterns:

{deployment-name}.yaml
deployment-{name}.yaml
{name}-deployment.yaml
k8s/{name}.yaml

Example:

Deployment: "api-gateway"
Matches:
  ✓ k8s/api-gateway.yaml
  ✓ deployments/api-gateway.yaml
  ✓ api-gateway-deployment.yaml

Kustomize Support

Detects and handles Kustomize structure: Kustomize Editor

Detect Kustomize

Finds kustomization.yaml files

Show Tabs

Editor displays multiple tabs:

Base: base/deployment.yaml
Overlay: overlays/production/deployment.yaml

Edit Both

Modify base or overlays as needed

Create Multi-file PR

Changes to multiple files in single PR

Creating Pull Requests

After editing, submit changes via GitHub:

Review Changes

Editor shows diff of your modifications YAML Diff

Green: Added lines
Red: Removed lines
Yellow: Modified lines

Add Commit Message

Enter descriptive commit message:

Update myapp image to v1.1.0

- Bumps image from v1.0.0 to v1.1.0
- Increases memory limit to 1Gi
- Adds liveness probe on /healthz endpoint

Select Branch

Choose branch strategy:

Create New Branch
Commit to Main

Recommended for productionBranch name: update-myapp-v1.1.0Creates new branch → Opens PR

Create PR

Click “Create Pull Request”Orphelix:

Creates branch (if selected)
Commits changes
Opens PR on GitHub
Returns PR URL

Review on GitHub

Click PR URL to view on GitHub:

Review changes
Request reviews from team
Run CI/CD checks
Merge when ready

PR Template

Orphelix auto-generates PR description:

## Changes

Updated deployment: `myapp`

### Modified Files
- `k8s/deployments/myapp.yaml`

### Changes Made
- Updated container image from `myapp:v1.0.0` to `myapp:v1.1.0`
- Increased memory limit from `512Mi` to `1Gi`
- Added liveness probe on `/healthz` endpoint

### Testing
- [ ] Deploy to staging
- [ ] Verify application starts successfully
- [ ] Test liveness probe endpoint
- [ ] Monitor memory usage

---
🤖 Generated with [Orphelix](https://github.com/corapoid/orphelix)

Best Practices

Small, Focused Changes

One logical change per PR:

✅ Update image tag
✅ Add health probe
❌ Update image + change replicas + add probes (too much!)

Descriptive Commit Messages

Clear, specific commit messages:✅ Good:

Update nginx image to 1.21.6 for CVE fix

❌ Bad:

Update image

Review Before Submitting

Always review changes:

Check diff for unintended modifications
Verify indentation is correct
Ensure no secrets are exposed
Test in staging first

Use Branch Protection

Configure GitHub branch protection:

Require pull request reviews
Require status checks
Prevent force push to main

Link to Issues

Reference related issues in PR:

Fixes #123

Update deployment to fix memory leak reported in #123

Troubleshooting

File Not Found

Symptom: “Cannot find YAML file in repository” Solutions:

Manual File Selection
- Click “Browse Files” button
- Navigate to correct file
- Select manually
Check Repository
- Verify correct repository selected
- Confirm file exists in repo
- Check branch (main vs master)
Update File Matching Settings
- Add custom file patterns in settings
- Configure OpenAI API key for AI matching

Permission Denied

Symptom: “Failed to create PR: permission denied” Check:

GitHub App Permissions
- Contents: Read & Write
- Pull Requests: Read & Write
Repository Access
- Orphelix app installed on repository?
- Repository not archived/disabled?
Branch Protection
- Can create branches?
- PR allowed from fork?

Merge Conflicts

Symptom: PR shows merge conflicts Resolution:

Fetch Latest

Pull latest changes from main

Resolve Conflicts

Open GitHub, resolve conflicts in UI

Alternative: Start Fresh

Close PR, fetch latest, make changes again

Next Steps

Pull Requests

Learn about PR management

GitHub Setup

Configure GitHub App

Deployments

Back to deployments

Repository Browser

Browse repository files

Features

GitHub Integration

Configuration

Overview

Opening the Editor

Editor Features

Syntax Highlighting

Auto-completion

Error Detection

Code Actions

Keyboard Shortcuts

Multi-cursor Editing

Common Editing Tasks

Update Container Image

Add Environment Variable

Update Resource Limits

Add Health Probes

Change Replica Count

File Matching

AI-Powered Matching

Pattern-based Matching

Kustomize Support

Creating Pull Requests

PR Template

Best Practices

Troubleshooting

File Not Found

Permission Denied

Merge Conflicts

Next Steps

Pull Requests

GitHub Setup

Deployments

Repository Browser

Features

GitHub Integration

Configuration

​Overview

​Opening the Editor

​Editor Features

​Syntax Highlighting

​Auto-completion

​Error Detection

​Code Actions

​Keyboard Shortcuts

​Multi-cursor Editing

​Common Editing Tasks

​Update Container Image

​Add Environment Variable

​Update Resource Limits

​Add Health Probes

​Change Replica Count

​File Matching

​AI-Powered Matching

​Pattern-based Matching

​Kustomize Support

​Creating Pull Requests

​PR Template

​Best Practices

​Troubleshooting

​File Not Found

​Permission Denied

​Merge Conflicts

​Next Steps

Pull Requests

GitHub Setup

Deployments

Repository Browser

Overview

Opening the Editor

Editor Features

Syntax Highlighting

Auto-completion

Error Detection

Code Actions

Keyboard Shortcuts

Multi-cursor Editing

Common Editing Tasks

Update Container Image

Add Environment Variable

Update Resource Limits

Add Health Probes

Change Replica Count

File Matching

AI-Powered Matching

Pattern-based Matching

Kustomize Support

Creating Pull Requests

PR Template

Best Practices

Troubleshooting

File Not Found

Permission Denied

Merge Conflicts

Next Steps