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Tessellation includes Kubernetes manifests in the kubernetes/ directory, structured as Kustomize overlays. Each cluster type (L0 and L1) is a separate overlay on top of a shared base. A full observability stack (Prometheus, Grafana, Loki) is provided alongside.

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Directory structure

kubernetes/
├── base/                    # Shared base: Deployment, Service, Promtail sidecar
│   ├── deployment.yaml
│   ├── service.yaml
│   ├── kustomization.yaml
│   └── promtail/
│       └── config.yaml      # Promtail log scraping config
├── l0-cluster/              # L0 Kustomize overlay
│   └── kustomization.yaml
├── l1-cluster/              # L1 Kustomize overlay
│   └── kustomization.yaml
├── grafana/                 # Grafana deployment + dashboards
├── prometheus/              # Prometheus deployment + scrape config
├── loki/                    # Loki log aggregation
├── nginx/                   # Nginx reverse proxy
├── chaos-mesh/              # Chaos engineering workflows
└── data/                    # Static data (genesis, etc.)

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Base resources

The base layer defines a validator-deployment and an initial-validator Service. 
# kubernetes/base/deployment.yaml (excerpt)
apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
  name: validator-deployment
spec:
  replicas: 1
  template:
    spec:
      containers:
        - name: validator
          image: validator
          ports:
            - name: public
              containerPort: 9000
            - name: p2p
              containerPort: 9001
            - name: cli
              containerPort: 9002
          resources:
            requests:
              memory: "1Gi"
              cpu: "1000m"
            limits:
              memory: "4Gi"
              cpu: "2000m"
          livenessProbe:
            httpGet:
              path: /node/health
              port: public
          startupProbe:
            httpGet:
              path: /node/health
              port: public
            failureThreshold: 30
            periodSeconds: 10
          envFrom:
            - configMapRef:
                name: validator-config
          env:
            - name: CL_EXTERNAL_IP
              valueFrom:
                fieldRef:
                  fieldPath: status.podIP
            - name: CL_COLLATERAL
              value: "0"
A Promtail sidecar container runs alongside the validator and ships JSON logs to Loki (see Monitoring).

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Cluster overlays

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L0 cluster

# kubernetes/l0-cluster/kustomization.yaml
apiVersion: kustomize.config.k8s.io/v1beta1
kind: Kustomization
resources:
  - ../base/
namePrefix: l0-
commonLabels:
  cluster: l0
images:
  - name: validator
    newName: l0-validator
configMapGenerator:
  - name: validator-config
    literals:
      - L0_INITIAL_VALIDATOR_ID=00b8a56a20fc2e2a...
replicas:
  - name: validator-deployment
    count: 2

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L1 cluster

# kubernetes/l1-cluster/kustomization.yaml
apiVersion: kustomize.config.k8s.io/v1beta1
kind: Kustomization
resources:
  - ../base/
namePrefix: l1-
commonLabels:
  cluster: l1
images:
  - name: validator
    newName: l1-validator
configMapGenerator:
  - name: validator-config
    literals:
      - L0_INITIAL_VALIDATOR_ID=00b8a56a20fc2e2a...
      - L1_INITIAL_VALIDATOR_ID=fbf91bc197ece694...
replicas:
  - name: validator-deployment
    count: 2
Each overlay:
  • Prefixes all resource names (e.g., l0-validator-deployment, l1-initial-validator)
  • Sets the cluster label for selector isolation
  • Substitutes the validator image with the cluster-specific image
  • Configures the initial validator node ID via a ConfigMap

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Deploying with Kustomize

1

Build container images

Build and push the L0 and L1 validator images:
docker build -f kubernetes/l0.Dockerfile -t l0-validator:latest .
docker build -f kubernetes/l1.Dockerfile -t l1-validator:latest .
2

Apply the L0 cluster

kubectl apply -k kubernetes/l0-cluster/
3

Apply the L1 cluster

kubectl apply -k kubernetes/l1-cluster/
4

Deploy the observability stack

kubectl apply -k kubernetes/prometheus/
kubectl apply -k kubernetes/grafana/
kubectl apply -k kubernetes/loki/
5

Verify pods are running

kubectl get pods -l cluster=l0
kubectl get pods -l cluster=l1
kubectl get pods -l app=grafana

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Namespaces and services

The base Service exposes NodePort ports for the initial validator: 
# kubernetes/base/service.yaml
apiVersion: v1
kind: Service
metadata:
  name: initial-validator
spec:
  type: NodePort
  ports:
    - port: 9000
      name: public
    - port: 9001
      name: p2p
    - port: 9002
      name: cli
  selector:
    node: initial-validator
After applying the L0 overlay, this becomes l0-initial-validator. After applying the L1 overlay, it becomes l1-initial-validator. Prometheus uses these service names for service discovery: 
# From kubernetes/prometheus/prometheus.yaml
http_sd_configs:
  - url: http://l0-initial-validator:9000/targets
  - url: http://l1-initial-validator:9000/targets

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ConfigMaps and environment

Node configuration is injected via a validator-config ConfigMap (generated by Kustomize). Node-specific runtime values are injected directly as environment variables:
VariableSourceDescription
CL_EXTERNAL_IPPod IP (status.podIP)Announced peer IP
CL_COLLATERALLiteral "0"Node collateral
INITIAL_VALIDATORLiteral "1"Marks the initial (genesis) validator pod
L0_INITIAL_VALIDATOR_IDConfigMapNode ID of the L0 genesis validator
L1_INITIAL_VALIDATOR_IDConfigMapNode ID of the L1 genesis validator

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Health checks and readiness probes

All probes hit GET /node/health on the public port (9000):
ProbeConfigPurpose
LivenesshttpGet /node/healthRestart pod if the process hangs
ReadinesshttpGet /node/healthRemove pod from Service until healthy
StartuphttpGet /node/health, failureThreshold: 30, periodSeconds: 10Give the JVM up to 300 s to start

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Local development with Skaffold

Skaffold is configured for rapid local Kubernetes development: 
skaffold dev    # Watch for changes, rebuild images, re-deploy
skaffold run    # One-shot build and deploy
The skaffold.yaml file in the project root coordinates image builds for both the L0 and L1 validator images alongside the Kustomize overlay deployments.

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