Coverage Matrix
| Chkk Curated Release Notes | v0.15.0 to latest |
| Private Registry | Supported |
| Custom Built Images | Supported |
| Safety, Health, and Readiness Checks | v1.0.0 to latest |
| Supported Packages | Helm, Kustomize, Kube |
| EOL Information | Available |
| Version Incompatibility Information | Available |
| Upgrade Templates | In-Place, Blue-Green |
| Preverification | Available |
Botkube Overview
Botkube is an open-source ChatOps tool that integrates Kubernetes clusters with popular messaging platforms such as Slack, Mattermost, and Discord. It automatically provides contextual alerts, status updates, and actionable recommendations directly in chat channels. Users can execute Kubernetes commands (kubectl, helm) within these channels, enabling real-time troubleshooting without direct cluster access. Its extensible plugin architecture supports custom sources (Kubernetes events, Prometheus alerts) and executors (commands/actions), enhancing operational collaboration and incident response.Chkk Coverage
Curated Release Notes
Chkk continuously monitors Botkube’s official release notes, highlighting critical new features, configuration adjustments, and deprecations relevant to your environment. It provides concise summaries of impactful changes, such as altered default notification behaviors or discontinued integrations, allowing immediate operational awareness. Chkk identifies precisely how these upstream changes might affect your specific configuration. Clear guidance is provided to ensure your environment remains stable and aligned with best practices post-upgrade.Preflight & Postflight Checks
Chkk conducts preflight checks verifying compatibility between your cluster’s Kubernetes version, Botkube plugins, and required outbound connectivity for integrations. These checks highlight potential configuration mismatches, deprecated fields, or network constraints to prevent upgrade-related issues. Postflight checks confirm Botkube pods are running healthily post-upgrade, reviewing logs for errors or connectivity issues. Chkk ensures notifications function correctly, immediately identifying misconfigurations or plugin compatibility problems.Version Recommendations
Chkk actively tracks Botkube’s release lifecycle, alerting you when your installed version approaches end-of-life or presents known stability issues. Recommendations consider compatibility with your Kubernetes environment and critical security or functionality fixes in newer versions. By evaluating community feedback and release stability, Chkk advises when to upgrade or delay based on operational impact. This approach ensures continuous observability coverage while minimizing disruptions.Upgrade Templates
Chkk provides structured Upgrade Templates covering both in-place and blue-green methodologies, aligned with Botkube’s best practices. In-place templates guide seamless upgrades by verifying configurations, ensuring pod health, and checking connectivity post-update. Blue-green templates facilitate parallel deployment of new versions in isolated channels, minimizing disruption while verifying functionality before a full switch. Each template clearly defines rollback points and integrates seamlessly with GitOps or CI/CD pipelines, reducing human error.Preverification
Chkk employs preverification to simulate the Botkube upgrade within an isolated staging environment mirroring your actual configuration. This “digital twin” approach proactively detects potential configuration errors, plugin incompatibilities, or resource consumption issues. By resolving these issues before production deployment, teams avoid unforeseen disruptions. Preverification ensures upgrades proceed smoothly, significantly increasing operational confidence and stability.Supported Packages
Chkk supports various Botkube deployment mechanisms, including Helm charts, Botkube CLI, and Kubernetes manifests. It adapts upgrade recommendations and templates to match your deployment method and configuration specifics, such as private registries or custom plugins. Chkk integrates seamlessly with existing workflows (Kustomize, Argo CD), maintaining operational consistency. Teams can confidently manage Botkube upgrades without altering established processes or tooling.Common Operational Considerations
- Network Access for Integrations: Ensure your egress rules permit Botkube’s required connections to Slack APIs or GitHub for plugins. Restricted environments should explicitly whitelist these endpoints or use proxies.
- Plugin Version Compatibility: Always update Botkube’s plugin index to match the agent version during upgrades. Mismatched plugins cause crash loops and halt notifications.
- RBAC and Permissions Issues: Regularly review Botkube’s RBAC permissions, ensuring access to required resources and consistent mapping between Kubernetes RBAC and Botkube configurations. Misconfigured permissions cause missed events or failed command executions.
- Tuning Alerts: Customize Botkube alerts to balance actionable information versus noise. Begin with critical notifications, incrementally adding lower-level alerts only where needed.
- Air-Gapped Environments: Mirror Botkube images and plugins internally, and prefer self-hosted integrations (like Mattermost). Without this, air-gapped clusters experience startup failures or stalled deployments.
- Config Persistence: Manage Botkube configurations via version-controlled Helm values or manifests rather than direct ConfigMap edits. Verify Botkube properly reloads configurations after changes to avoid silent misconfigurations.