Metadata Files
Using kronicle.yaml files to add metadata to Kronicle.
kronicle.yaml files for each Codebase
Kronicle is powered by kronicle.yaml files. When using Kronicle, typically kronicle.yaml files are added to the
Git repos for each of an organisation’s codebases. When kronicle.yaml file is added to a codebase, the file
describes all the components in that repo. The codebases could be for single page apps, microservices etc. but they
could also be Infrastructure as Code (IaC) codebases that hold Terraform, CDK etc. config for infrastructure.
The simplest way to do this is to create a file called kronicle.yaml at the root of a repo. You can use either
of the following files as examples for what you can put in a repo’s kronicle.yaml file:
- https://github.com/kronicle-tech/kronicle-metadata-codebase-template/blob/main/kronicle.yaml
- https://github.com/kronicle-tech/kronicle/blob/main/kronicle.yaml
If you want your CI build to validate your kronicle.yaml files to make sure they contain no syntax errors, you can
use
https://github.com/kronicle-tech/kronicle-metadata-codebase-template
as a template for using a Gradle build script to validate the kronicle.yaml files. This is an optional step. The
kronicle-metadata-codebase-template repo includes:
| File | Description |
|---|---|
| README.md | Contains instructions for using the template repo |
| kronicle.yaml | An example kronicle.yaml file with lots of comments |
| build.gradle | A fragment of a Gradle build script that adds a validateKronicleMetadata build task that validates the contents of the kronicle.yaml file to make sure it contains no errors. This can be used on a local machine and in a build job on your Continuous Integration (CI) server |
| gradle/kronicle-metadata.gradle | A Gradle include file that’s used by the build.gradle file to perform the validation of the kronicle.yaml file. |
kronicle.yaml files for areas and teams
Some types of metadata for Kronicle do nit fit well in codebase kronicle.yaml files. Here’s some examples of these
types of metadata:
- An area, which is a section or division of an organisation.
- A team.
- Component types. Each organisation will have its own types of components. E.g. microservices, databases, queues etc. These component types are defined in a
kronicle.yamlfile. - Platform. Like component types, each organisation will have its own platforms. E.g. kubernetes, AWS Fargate, AWS managed services, external services etc.
Typically, dedicated Git repos are created to hold kronicle.yaml file(s) for these types of metadata. The
https://github.com/kronicle-tech/kronicle-metadata-repo-template
repo provides a template for creating these sorts of metadata repos. The template repo contains:
| File | Description |
|---|---|
| README.md | Contains instructions for using the template repo |
| kronicle.yaml | An example kronicle.yaml file with lots of comments |
| build.gradle | A Gradle build script that includes a validateKronicleMetadata build task for validates the contents of the kronicle.yaml file to make sure it contains no errors. This can be used on a local machine and in a build job on your Continuous Integration (CI) server |
| gradle/kronicle-metadata.gradle | A Gradle include file that’s used by the build.gradle file to perform the validation of the kronicle.yaml file. |
End of the Guide
This is the end of the getting started guide. See the Kronicle Walkthrough video for a general overview of Kronicle and the Live Demo which is a real instance of Kronicle.