Review Services
How to periodically review BlumeOps services for version freshness and upgrade opportunities.
Review by Staleness
Show services sorted by when they were last reviewed (most stale first):
mise run service-reviewThis reads the tracking file at service-versions.yaml (repo root) and sorts by the last-reviewed field. Services without a review date float to the top. The script shows a staleness table and then displays the most stale service with a review checklist.
To show more entries in the table:
mise run service-review --limit 30To filter by service type:
mise run service-review --type argocd
mise run service-review --type ansible
mise run service-review --type hybridReview Process by Service Type
For all service types, start by reading the service’s reference card (docs/reference/services/<service>.md) for architecture, configuration, and endpoint details.
ArgoCD Services (type: argocd)
- Check the upstream releases page for new versions
- Compare to the image tag in
argocd/manifests/<service>/kustomization.yaml(images[].newTag) - Review the upstream changelog for breaking changes
- If the service uses a custom-built container, also check the base image for security updates and follow build-container-image to rebuild
- If upgrading, update the manifest and follow deploy-k8s-service
- If the container still uses a Dockerfile (no
container.py), consider migrating to a native Dagger build — see thecontainers/navidrome/container.pypattern for reference
Ansible Services (type: ansible)
- Check the upstream releases page for new versions
- Review the role’s vars/defaults for version pins in
ansible/roles/<service>/ - If upgrading, update the version and dry-run:
mise run provision-indri -- --tags <service> --check --diff - Follow add-ansible-role patterns for role changes
NixOS Services (type: nixos)
Versioned NixOS services (forgejo-runner, snowflake, k3s) are pinned via a nixpkgs-services overlay in nixos/ringtail/flake.nix. This prevents nix flake update from silently upgrading them — they only change when the nixpkgs-services input is deliberately updated.
- Check the upstream project for new releases
- Check what version nixpkgs has:
ssh ringtail 'nix eval nixpkgs#<pkg>.version' - To upgrade, update the
nixpkgs-servicesrev inflake.nixto a nixpkgs commit that includes the desired version, then runnix flake update nixpkgs-servicesfromnixos/ringtail/ - Deploy via
mise run provision-ringtail - Update
service-versions.yamlwith the new version
Mise Tools (type: mise)
Development tools managed via mise.toml with pinned versions. These are local CLI tools (dagger, pulumi, prek, ty, ansible-core) rather than deployed services.
- Check the upstream releases page for new versions
- Review the changelog for breaking changes
- Update the pinned version in
mise.toml - Run
mise installto verify the new version installs correctly - Update
service-versions.yamlwith the new version
Private Forge Repos (upstream-source under forge.eblu.me/eblume/)
Some services are built from private repos on the forge rather than tracking an external upstream project. When upstream-source points to a forge.eblu.me/eblume/ repo:
- Clone the repo to
~/code/personal/if not already checked out - Review the repo’s dependency pins — uv script metadata,
pyproject.toml,package.json,flake.nixinputs, etc. - Update stale dependencies and rebuild locally to verify nothing breaks
- If changes were made, commit, push, and trigger a new release from that repo
- Back in blumeops, update the container image or release artifact reference as needed
This extends the service review into the source repo’s build-time dependencies, which would otherwise be a blind spot — the blumeops-side review only covers the deployment manifest and container base image.
Attached Services
Some services have auxiliary dependencies that run as separate containers — caches, sidecars, init helpers. These are tracked as attached services with a naming convention and an optional parent field:
- name: authentik-redis
type: argocd
parent: authentik
current-version: "8.2.3"
upstream-source: https://github.com/redis/redis/releases
notes: >-
Attached service: Redis cache/broker for Authentik.Conventions:
- Naming:
<parent>-<component>(e.g.,authentik-redis,grafana-sidecar) parentfield: points to the parent service entry. Currently informational — the review task doesn’t use it yet, but it enables future grouping/dependency-aware reviews.notesfield: always starts with “Attached service:” to make the relationship clear at a glance.- Version tracking: attached services that use nixpkgs packages should include a version assertion in
default.nix(assert pkgs.<pkg>.version == version;) so thatflake.lockupdates that change the package version break the build and force explicit acknowledgment.
Existing attached services: grafana-sidecar, authentik-redis.
Version Tracking Convention
The current-version field in service-versions.yaml tracks the upstream application version, not the container image tag. For services with custom-built containers, the container image tag (e.g., v1.0.0) is decoupled from the contained app version (e.g., v1.10.1). This allows container rebuilds (base image updates, build fixes) without implying an upstream version change.
Marking a Service as Reviewed
After reviewing, edit service-versions.yaml (repo root) and update the service entry:
- name: prometheus
type: argocd
last-reviewed: 2026-02-16
current-version: "v3.9.1"
upstream-source: https://github.com/prometheus/prometheus/releasesCommit this change alongside any upgrades you make during the review.
Deployment Policy
BlumeOps uses kustomize manifests for all services. Helm charts should not be introduced for new services. See no-helm-policy for rationale and migration history.
Related
- no-helm-policy - Why blumeops avoids Helm charts
- review-documentation - Periodically review documentation cards
- deploy-k8s-service - Deploy changes to Kubernetes services
- build-container-image - Build and release custom container images
- add-ansible-role - Add or modify Ansible roles
- service-versions - Version tracking file reference