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Cue Kind Definition

Grafana LabsOfficialPublished by Grafana Labs

  • Skill
  • Tool integration
  • Cloud and DevOps
  • Apache-2.0
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From the author

Author CUE kind definitions for grafana-app-sdk apps - schemas, versioning, field constraints, named type definitions, custom routes, and codegen configuration. Scaffolds kinds via `grafana-app-sdk project kind add`, writes spec/status schemas with type constraints (regex, enum, range), defines `#`-prefixed named types for reusable structs, registers versions in the app manifest, and runs `grafana-app-sdk generate` with explicit error recovery. Use when working with CUE kinds, adding a new resource type, adding a version to an existing kind, writing schema field constraints, defining `#Definition` types, adding custom routes, editing files under `kinds/`, or when the user asks to "model a resource", "add a CUE schema", or "write a kind" — even without saying "CUE" explicitly.
— the description by Grafana Labs

AutoGineer summary

Written by AutoGineer from the skill’s own files, not by the author

This skill provides a structured approach to defining resource kinds within the grafana-app-sdk ecosystem using CUE. It covers the full lifecycle of kind management, including scaffolding new resources, defining complex schemas with field constraints, versioning, and configuring code generation for Go and TypeScript. It ensures that developers can maintain consistent, type-safe resource models while adhering to the framework's specific manifest and directory requirements.

What it does

  • Scaffolds new resource kinds using the CLI.
  • Defines spec and status schemas with advanced CUE constraints like regex, enums, and ranges.
  • Supports reusable struct definitions using # prefixed types.
  • Manages multi-version resource schemas and manifest registration.
  • Configures per-kind code generation settings for Go and TypeScript.
  • Facilitates the definition of custom API routes at the kind or version level.

When to use it

  • When creating a new resource type for a grafana-app-sdk application.
  • When adding a new version to an existing resource kind.
  • When defining or updating schema field constraints and validation rules.
  • When you need to define reusable struct types for complex resource models.
  • When adding custom API routes to your application.

Advantages

  • Ensures type safety through CUE's constraint-based language.
  • Automates the generation of Go and TypeScript code from schema definitions.
  • Provides a standardized directory structure for maintainable projects.
  • Supports explicit versioning to handle breaking changes safely.
  • Reduces manual boilerplate by integrating directly with the SDK's generation tools.

Usage examples

“How do I add a new resource kind called 'DashboardConfig' to my app?”
The agent will guide you to run 'grafana-app-sdk project kind add DashboardConfig', edit the generated .cue files in the kinds/ directory, and execute 'grafana-app-sdk generate' to create the necessary Go and TypeScript artifacts.
“I need to add a regex constraint to a string field in my schema.”
The agent will show you how to use the '&' operator with the regex pattern, such as 'myField: string & =~"^[a-z]+"'.
“How do I create a new version for an existing kind?”
The agent will instruct you to copy the existing version file, rename the top-level object, register the new version in 'kinds/manifest.cue', and re-run the generation command.
“How can I define a reusable struct for my spec?”
The agent will explain how to define a '#'-prefixed type within the schema block, which allows you to reuse the struct across multiple fields and ensures it is generated as a named type.

Install

  1. Download the skill as a ZIP:

    https://autogineer.com/agent-skills/grafana/cue-kind-definition/download
  2. Unzip it into the cross-client skills folder of your project:

    mkdir -p .agents/skills && unzip cue-kind-definition.zip -d .agents/skills

Documentation by Grafana Labs

CUE Kind Definition

Common Workflows

Adding a new kind
# 1. Scaffold the kind files
grafana-app-sdk project kind add MyKind --overwrite
# Produces kinds/mykind.cue + kinds/mykind_v1alpha1.cue + updates kinds/manifest.cue.

# 2. Edit the generated .cue files — fill in schema.spec / schema.status fields

# 3. Generate types and clients
grafana-app-sdk generate

# 4. Verify the generated artifacts exist
ls pkg/generated/    # should contain new types for MyKind

If generate fails with CUE errors:

  • Read the error — CUE prints the offending file + line + which constraint failed

  • Common causes: missing required field, type mismatch (e.g. string field assigned an int), unresolved reference between version files

  • Fix the .cue source, re-run grafana-app-sdk generate. Never edit files under pkg/generated/ — they're overwritten on every run.

Adding a new version to an existing kind
# 1. Copy the existing version file
cp kinds/mykind_v1alpha1.cue kinds/mykind_v1.cue

# 2. Edit kinds/mykind_v1.cue — rename the top-level object (e.g. myKindv1) and adjust the schema

# 3. Register the new version in kinds/manifest.cue
#    Add a versions["v1"]: { schema: myKindv1 } entry

# 4. Re-generate
grafana-app-sdk generate

# 5. Verify both versions were generated — per-version Go types live under pkg/generated/<group>/<version>/
ls pkg/generated/             # should list both version directories (e.g. v1alpha1/ v1/)
# Optionally inspect the CRD spec under definitions/ to confirm both versions appear in `spec.versions[]`

Breaking changes (removing fields, changing types, adding required fields) must go into a new version — never modify a stable version (v1, v2) in place.

Kind file structure

The CLI produces a flat layout under kinds/:

kinds/
├── manifest.cue           # App manifest + version list declarations
├── mykind.cue             # Common (cross-version) kind metadata
└── mykind_v1alpha1.cue    # v1alpha1 schema + codegen config

For multi-version kinds, additional version files sit alongside (mykind_v1.cue, etc.). For very large kind sets (10+ kinds), consider the per-kind subdirectory layout — full kind anatomy reference in references/kind-layout.md.

CUE Kind Anatomy

Three layers per kind:

1. Common kind metadata
// kinds/mykind.cue
package kinds

myKind: {
    kind: "MyKind"               // Required: PascalCase kind name
    // other cross-version fields (scope, pluralName, validation, mutation, conversion, …)
    // Full field reference in references/kind-layout.md.
}
2. Per-version schema
// kinds/mykind_v1alpha1.cue
package kinds

myKindv1alpha1: myKind & {
    schema: {
        spec: {                       // desired state — user-set
            title:       string
            description: string | *""
            count:       int & >=0
            enabled:     bool | *true
        }
        status: {                     // observed state — operator-set
            lastObservedGeneration: int | *0
            state:                  string | *""
            message:                string | *""
        }
    }
    codegen: {
        ts: { enabled: true }
        go: { enabled: true }
    }
}
3. App manifest
// kinds/manifest.cue
package kinds

App: {
    appName: "my-app"
    versions: {
        "v1alpha1": { schema: myKindv1alpha1 }
    }
}

Codegen configuration

Control what gets generated per kind per version:

codegen: {
    ts: { enabled: true | false }   // TypeScript types
    go: { enabled: true | false }   // Go types + client
}

Disabling go for frontend-only apps avoids unused Go code. Disabling ts for backend-only resources reduces bundle size. Both default to true when omitted.

References

External resources

Files

references/kind-layout.md

Kind Layout Reference

Overview

The default layout produced by grafana-app-sdk project kind add places all CUE files directly in kinds/, sharing package kinds. A kind is split into two objects:

  • myKind (myKind.cue) — common metadata shared across all versions (kind, group, scope, admission config, etc.)

  • myKindv1alpha1 (myKind_v1alpha1.cue) — per-version schema joined to the metadata via CUE's & operator

The app manifest (myapp.cue) references version objects directly — no imports needed in the flat layout.

See SKILL.md for the full three-layer anatomy and file structure details.

Full Example Kind

An example kind with all possible fields populated:

package kinds

myKind: {
    kind: "MyKind" // [required] The name of the kind
    pluralName: "MyKinds" // [optional] The plural form of `kind`. Defaults to `kind`+`s`
    scope: "Namespaced" // [optional] "Cluster" or "Namespaced", defaults to "Namespaced"
    validation: { // [optional] Validating admission control configuration for the kind
        operations: ["POST","PUT","PATCH"] // values limited to "GET","POST","PUT","DELETE","PATCH"
    }
    mutation: { // [optional] Mutating admission control configuration for the kind
        operations: ["POST","PUT","PATCH"] // values limited to "GET","POST","PUT","DELETE","PATCH"
    }
    conversion: true // [optional] Explicit conversion supported, defaults to false. When true, the App must register a Converter in app.go and ValidateManifest will fail at startup if it is missing.
    conversionWebhookProps: { // [optional] Only required if conversion=true and the app is running as a standalone binary
        url: "https://myapp.svc.cluster.local:443/convert" // The URL of the conversion webhook which should be called to conver the kind between versions
    }
    codegen: {
        ts: { // [optional] TypeScript codegen settings
            enabled: true // [optional] If true TypeScript types are generated for this kind. Defaults to true
            config: { // [optional] Configuration to pass into github.com/grafana/cog when running TypeScript generation
                // [optional] importsMap associates package names to their import path.
                importsMap: {
                    "common": "github.com/example/common"
                }
                // [optional] enumsAsUnionTypes controls how CUE enums (disjunctions) are emitted in TypeScript.
                // false (default): generates a TypeScript enum declaration, e.g.:
                //   enum Direction { Up = "up", Down = "down" }
                // true: generates a union type, e.g.:
                //   type Direction = "up" | "down"
                // Use true when consumers prefer plain string unions over enum objects (e.g. for JSON serialization compatibility).
                enumsAsUnionTypes: false
            }
        }
        go: { // [optional] go codegen settings
            enabled: true // [optional] If true go types are generated for this kind. Defaults to true
        }
    }
}

And an example version v1 of that kind with all possible fields populated:

package kinds

myKindv1: myKind & {
    // schema is the schema for the kind version, defined as a CUE definition. It must contain at least `spec`. 
    // Any top-level fields aside from `spec` are considered subresources of the object, the most common of which is `status`
    schema: { 
        spec: {
            foo: string
        }
        status: {
            observedGeneration?: int
        }
    }
    // [optional] selectableFields is a list of JSON paths to fields in the schema which can be used as field selectors in the resulting kubernetes API. CRDs limit the number of selectableFields to 8, so it is good practice to have 8 or fewer
    selectableFields: [".spec.foo"]
    // [optional] additionalPrinterColumns is a list of additional columns to display in a `kubectl get` output for the kind
    additionalPrinterColumns: [{
        // name is a human readable name for the column.
        name: "Foo"
        // type is an OpenAPI type definition for this column.
        // See https://github.com/OAI/OpenAPI-Specification/blob/master/versions/2.0.md#data-types for details.
        type: "string"
        // [optional] format is an optional OpenAPI type definition for this column.
        // See https://github.com/OAI/OpenAPI-Specification/blob/master/versions/2.0.md#data-types for details.
        // Use format: "name" on the column that displays the resource name (.metadata.name) — this signals
        // to clients (e.g. kubectl) that the column is the primary identifier.
        format: ""
        // [optional] description is a human readable description of this column.
        description: "Lorem ipsum"
        // priority is an integer defining the relative importance of this column compared to others. Lower
        // numbers are considered higher priority. Columns that may be omitted in limited space scenarios
        // should be given a priority greater than 0.
        priority: 1
        // jsonPath is a simple JSON path (i.e. with array notation) which is evaluated against
        // each custom resource to produce the value for this column.
        jsonPath: ".spec.foo"
    }]
    // [optional] routes is any custom subresource routes for the kind. 
    // Subresource routes differ from subresources defined in `schema` in that they call a handler, rather than 
    // store/retrieve a payload to the underlying storage. Route paths must not conflict with subresources defined in `schema` (like `spec` and `status`)
    routes: {
        // This defines a subresource /message on the kind. Keys in the subsequent map must be all-caps HTTP verbs which correlate to handlers for this subresource
        "message": {
            // This defines a GET handler for the /message subresource
            "GET": {
                name: "getMessage" // name is the OpenAPI name of the route, must begin with a kubernetes verb and match the regex `^(get|log|read|replace|patch|delete|deletecollection|watch|connect|proxy|list|create|patch)([A-Za-z0-9]+)$`
                // [optional] request information
                request: {
                    // query parameters
                    query: {
                        echo: int
                    }
                }
                // successful response schema
                response: {
                    message: string
                }
                // [optional] kubernetes metadata to include in the response payload (impacts codegen and OpenAPI)
                responseMetadata: {
                    typeMeta: true // [optional] include meta/v1.TypeMeta (`kind` and `apiVersion`), defaults to true
                    objectMeta: false // [optional] include a `metadata` field that contains meta/v1.ObjectMeta (defaults to false). Mutually exclusive with `listMeta`
                    listMeta: false // [optional] include a `metadata` field that contains meta/v1.ListMeta (defaults to false). Mutually exclusive with `objectMeta`
                }
                // OpenAPI extensions to add to the generated OpenAPI for the route
                extensions: {
                    "x-myapp-some-extension": "foo"
                }
            }
            // This defines a POST handler for the /message subresource
            "POST": {
                name: "replaceMessage"
                request: {
                    // [optional] request body schema
                    body: {
                        message: string
                    }
                }
                response: {
                    message: string
                }
            }
        }
    }
}

Requirements and compatibility

Works with: Claude Code, Claude apps, OpenAI Codex, GitHub Copilot, Cursor, Gemini CLI, Kiro, OpenCode, Goose, Amp, Roo Code, JetBrains Junie, Factory Droid, Devin (ex-Windsurf), Mistral Vibe, OpenHands, Letta

“Works with” means the tool reads the open Agent Skills format; a skill written for one tool may use features others lack.

Security

No issues found by our static scan· No issues found

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Attribution and licence

Published by
Grafana Labs
Publisher
Grafana Labs (Official)
Source
grafana/skills · skills/grafana-app-sdk/cue-kind-definition · commit 8fb72a5
Licence
Apache License 2.0 (redistribution allowed)
  • LICENSE (added by AutoGineer from LICENSE)
  • ATTRIBUTION.md (written by AutoGineer)
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