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Platform templates — Build, Run, Edge

ExplanationPublic

The problem this solves

Not every environment needs the same stack. A forward-deployed edge node and an enterprise cloud cluster have different constraints. Platform templates give you a right-sized starting point with sensible defaults already chosen.

How templates work

A template is a curated set of apps and configuration defaults. When you run smoothglue configure, you select a template. You can add or remove individual apps — the template is a starting point, not a constraint.

The three templates

Build

Use when: Your team needs to build and publish software — source control, CI pipelines, artifact registry, scanning.

Includes: GitLab, GitLab Runner, Nexus, Pillars of Creation scanning stack (SBOM, SAST, container scanning, dependency scanning), ArgoCD.

Does not include by default: Jira, Mattermost, Confluence — add selectively.

Run

Use when: Your team needs to run applications in production — deployments, observability, data services.

Includes: ArgoCD, Keycloak, Prometheus, Grafana, Loki, Tempo, Alloy, Kyverno, NeuVector, Vault.

Does not include by default: GitLab, Nexus — assumes a Build environment is upstream.

Edge

Use when: Deploying to a resource-constrained, air-gapped, or forward-deployed environment. KVM or bare-metal.

Includes: ArgoCD, lightweight observability, Zarf. No hosted GitLab or Nexus — all artifacts are pre-packaged and delivered via Zarf bundle from an upstream Build environment.

What you still own

Choosing the wrong template is recoverable — you can add or remove apps at any time with smoothglue configure. The template saves you from selecting 50+ apps from scratch.

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