bootapi/docs/template-authoring.md

Authoring templates

bootapi ships an embedded default set and lets you override or extend it.

Where templates live

• Embedded defaults: templates/kickstart/*.ks.tmpl, templates/ipxe/*.ipxe.tmpl and templates/catalog/*.yaml, compiled into the binary (templates/embed.go). These are the always-available startup fallback.
• Template git repo (preferred in prod): BOOTAPI_TEMPLATE_GIT_URL. bootapi clones it at startup and re-pulls every BOOTAPI_TEMPLATE_GIT_INTERVAL (default 3m, like argocd), atomically swapping the loaded set on change. A parse failure keeps the last-good set and is only logged + counted (bootapi_template_sync_failures_total), so a bad push can't take bootapi down. If the repo is unreachable at startup, bootapi runs on the embedded defaults. The repo is unkin/bootapi-templates (seeded from these embedded files) and has its own CI validating templates + catalog.
• Override directory: BOOTAPI_TEMPLATE_DIR (a ConfigMap mount), used only when no git URL is set. Files there override embedded ones by base name.

In all cases the embedded defaults are the base layer; the git repo / override dir is layered on top, replacing files of the same base name and adding new ones.

Naming

• Kickstart: <name>.ks.tmpl → registered as template <name>.
• iPXE: <name>.ipxe.tmpl → registered as template <name>.

<name> is what template selection matches against (platform slug, OS family, provision_template, or the configured default — see data-model.md).

Reserved iPXE names bootapi renders directly:

• boot — the per-host boot script (/ipxe/{mac} for a known host).
• fallback-local, fallback-shell — unknown-MAC fallbacks.

The distro catalog

catalog/*.yaml describes each bootable OS, so adding a distro is a YAML + template change (and, if needed, a new artifactapi remote) — no bootapi code change. One file per distro:

name: almalinux9              # catalog key; also what provision_template matches
match:
  platforms: [almalinux9]     # exact NetBox platform slugs
  family: almalinux           # OR an OS family (matches almalinux8/9/...)
kickstart: almalinux9         # kickstart template name to render
version_default: "9"          # used when the platform slug carries no version
kernel_url: "{{.ArtifactBase}}/almalinux/{{.Version}}/BaseOS/{{.Arch}}/os/images/pxeboot/vmlinuz"
initrd_url: "{{.ArtifactBase}}/almalinux/{{.Version}}/BaseOS/{{.Arch}}/os/images/pxeboot/initrd.img"
kernel_args: [inst.text, net.ifnames=0]
vars:                         # arbitrary templated strings -> .DistroVars.<key>
  mirror: "{{.ArtifactBase}}/almalinux/{{.Version}}"

kernel_url, initrd_url and each vars value are Go templates rendered with {{.ArtifactBase}} (BOOTAPI_ARTIFACT_BASE_URL), {{.Version}}, {{.Arch}}, {{.Hostname}}, {{.Platform}}, {{.OSFamily}}. The kickstart template reads .DistroVars.mirror to build its url/repo lines, so the install-tree layout lives entirely in the catalog. bootapi derives inst.repo for iPXE by trimming /images/pxeboot/vmlinuz off kernel_url.

Shipped entries: almalinux9 (artifactapi almalinux remote) and fedora (fedora remote). debian / talos are documented but not implemented — their artifact shapes differ (Debian netboot linux+initrd.gz under dists/<rel>/main/installer-<arch>/current/images/netboot/; Talos ships factory vmlinuz+initramfs.xz images) so they need their own catalog fields/template and possibly a new artifactapi remote. See the catalog README in the templates repo for the intended path.

Engine and functions

Standard Go text/template. Available funcs: join, upper, lower, default ({{ default "x" .Maybe }} → .Maybe unless empty). The data model is in data-model.md.

Example network stanza (iterate interfaces, skip those without an IP, set the hostname on the primary):

{{- $primary := .PrimaryInterface }}
{{- range .Interfaces }}
{{- if .IP }}
network --bootproto=static --device={{ .MAC }} --ip={{ .IP }} --netmask={{ .Netmask }}{{ if .Gateway }} --gateway={{ .Gateway }}{{ end }}{{ range $.Nameservers }} --nameserver={{ . }}{{ end }}{{ if and $primary (eq .MAC $primary.MAC) }} --hostname={{ $.FQDN }}{{ end }} --activate
{{- end }}
{{- end }}

What the default AlmaLinux template does (ported from Cobbler)

The literal .ks bodies from the old Cobbler server are not in version control (they lived in /var/lib/cobbler/{templates,snippets} on the Cobbler host). The embedded almalinux9.ks.tmpl reproduces the contract that estate relied on:

• static per-interface networking from NetBox, hostname on the primary NIC;
• rootpw --iscrypted from the render-time hash (Cobbler's default_password_crypted), or --lock when unset;
• a minimal package set + openssh-server, chrony;
• a %post that installs the Puppet agent, points it at puppet.query.consul / puppetca.query.consul, and enables it — handing off to the existing profiles::firstrun Puppet bootstrap and autosign, exactly as the Cobbler kickstart did.

Adjust partitioning, package sets and repos to taste; keep the puppet %post handoff so a freshly-installed host still checks in and converges.

Testing a template locally

BOOTAPI_NETBOX_URL=... BOOTAPI_NETBOX_TOKEN=... \
BOOTAPI_BASE_URL=http://localhost:8000 \
BOOTAPI_BOOT_BASE_URL=http://mirror/almalinux/9 \
BOOTAPI_TEMPLATE_DIR=./mytemplates ./bin/bootapi &
curl -s localhost:8000/ks/web01        # rendered kickstart
curl -s localhost:8000/ipxe/aa:bb:cc:00:11:22