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Applications take you from source code to a deployable, GitOps-managed workload. Connect an application’s Git repository and Ankra analyzes it, generates the packaging it’s missing - a Dockerfile, a Helm chart, and a CI/CD pipeline - and opens a pull request in your repo. Once merged, CI builds and publishes a container image and Helm chart, and you deploy the application as part of a stack.
Applications connect to GitHub repositories and use a GitHub credential. The generated CI/CD pipeline pushes the container image to GitHub Container Registry (GHCR) and publishes the Helm chart as an OCI artifact.

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How it works

1

Connect a repository

Provide a name, a GitHub credential, and the repo owner, name, and branch (defaults to main).
2

Analyze and generate

Ankra inspects the repository, detects the language and framework, and generates the artifacts it needs - a Dockerfile, a Helm chart, and a CI/CD workflow - opening a pull request with the changes.
3

Merge the pull request

Review and merge the PR. Merging activates the CI/CD pipeline in your repository.
4

Build and publish

CI builds and pushes the container image to GHCR and publishes the Helm chart as an OCI artifact. Ankra surfaces the image URL, chart OCI URL, and the helm repo add command.
5

Deploy

Deploy the application onto a cluster as part of a stack. Ankra tracks its readiness from there.

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What Ankra tracks

For each application you see:
  • State and analysis status - where the application is in the connect/analyze/generate/build lifecycle, with an error message if something needs attention.
  • Repository - owner, name, branch, and URL.
  • Artifacts - the container image URL, the Helm chart OCI URL, and a ready-to-copy helm repo add command.
  • Pull request - a link to the generated PR.
  • Jobs - the underlying platform jobs for the application, so you can follow analysis and generation as it runs.

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Security scanning

Applications include code and container security insights, so vulnerabilities surface alongside the build rather than in a separate tool. Pair this with AI Insights for proactive analysis.

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Managing applications

ActionWhat it does
RetryRe-run analysis and generation after fixing an issue (for example, adding the right credential or repository permissions)
ReconcileRe-evaluate the application against its repository and refresh its state
DeleteDisconnect the application from Ankra

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Prerequisites

1

Connect GitHub

Add a GitHub credential with access to the application’s repository. The Ankra GitHub App needs permission to open pull requests and commit workflow files; the generated CI/CD pipeline then builds and pushes the image to GHCR using the repository’s own GitHub Actions token. See the GitHub integration for the exact scopes (including the optional permission that lets Ankra fix the Actions token so the first build can push to GHCR).
2

Have a target cluster

Make sure you have a cluster with the agent connected to deploy onto.

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API

Applications are available over the API for CLI and scripted use, under /api/v1/org/applications (bearer-token authenticated).
MethodPathPurpose
POST/api/v1/org/applicationsConnect a repository and create an application
GET/api/v1/org/applicationsList applications (paginated, search supported)
GET/api/v1/org/applications/{application_id}Get an application’s detail and artifacts
GET/api/v1/org/applications/{application_id}/jobsList the platform jobs for the application
POST/api/v1/org/applications/{application_id}/retryRetry analysis and generation
POST/api/v1/org/applications/{application_id}/reconcileReconcile the application
DELETE/api/v1/org/applications/{application_id}Delete the application
See the CI/CD Pipeline guide for how the generated pipeline fits into GitOps, and the API Reference for full schemas.