KYAML Toolbox

Introduction to KYAML

KYAML (Kubernetes YAML) is a strict subset of YAML introduced in Kubernetes 1.34 as an alpha feature, designed to eliminate common YAML pitfalls while maintaining readability and functionality.

Key Features

• Double-quoted strings: All string values must be explicitly quoted
• Flow-style syntax: Uses {} for objects and [] for arrays
• Comments supported: Unlike JSON, KYAML allows # comments
• Whitespace insensitive: No indentation errors
• Trailing commas allowed: More forgiving syntax

Benefits over Traditional YAML

• Prevents the "Norway problem" (country codes parsed as booleans)
• Eliminates type coercion issues
• More reliable for CI/CD pipelines
• Better Git diff visualization
• Easier to generate programmatically

Example Comparison

spec:
  containers:
  - name: app
    image: nginx
country: NO # Parsed as boolean false
version: 3.10 # Parsed as float 3.1

spec: {
  containers: [
    { name: "app", image: "nginx" }
  ]
}
country: "NO" # Explicitly a string
version: "3.10" # Explicitly a string