Q-Bits: Creating Pod Definitions with Amazon Q Developer
Amazon Q Developer can generate and explain complex Kubernetes Pod configurations, including resource requests, limits, and security contexts, ultimately saving developers time and minimizing potential errors.
Rafael Mosca
Amazon Employee
Published Mar 6, 2025
Welcome to another installment of Q-Bits, our regular series showcasing cool ways Amazon employees are leveraging Amazon Q Developer. Today, we're diving into how Q Developer can help create efficient Kubernetes Pod definitions that you can deploy in Kubernetes clusters like Amazon EKS.
Kubernetes (k8s) is a powerful orchestration tool that helps manage and run containerized applications smoothly. The smallest unit in Kubernetes is called a Pod, which can hold one or more containers along with shared storage and network resources.
However, managing these Pods can be tricky. You need to set up precise configurations, make sure resources like CPU and memory are used efficiently, keep everything secure, and adapt to changing needs. All these tasks require a good understanding of how Kubernetes works and can be quite complex.
In this guide, we'll show how Amazon Q Developer can ease the task of creating Pod Definitions. It can create the right configurations quickly, explain what each part does, and help avoid mistakes. This way, developers can focus more on building great applications and less on the complicated details.
Let’s see how it works. With the Amazon Q extension installed in VSCode, you can ask:
Create a simple Kubernetes Pod Definition for a web application.
Amazon Q Developer responds with a generated Pod Definition and explains some sections:
Once we copy over the code provided by Amazon Q Developer into a file, we can select some code, right click and use the Explain feature to get reminders about sections like
requests and limits.
The initial Pod definition doesn’t include Readiness and Liveness Probes. You can ask Amazon Q Developer to add them without using the Kubernetes-specific terminology.
@workspace Add health and readiness checks
By including the
@workspace tag in our request, we ensured that Amazon Q Developer had access to the relevant context from our development environment. This smart feature allows Q Developer to understand our code better, locate necessary files, and generate code that integrates seamlessly with our existing setup. Amazon Q Developer then comes back and correctly generates the following Pod Definition with Readiness and Liveness Probes: To make the deployment more secure, you can ask Q:
Make the deployment more secure and explain your changes
Amazon Q Developer correctly suggests to add a Security Context for the Pod and the Container and explains the modifications:
For an even smoother experience, I like to use the Amazon Q for Developer
/dev agent. Starting from an empty folder, you can ask Q to create the Pod definitions and a Kubernetes Deployment: /dev Create a simple a Kubernetes Pod Definition for a web application that uses Nginx. Please ensure that the Pod Definition includes typical values for CPU and memory requests and limits commonly used for a web application. Additionally, add relevant readiness and liveness probes to ensure the application is running correctly and can handle traffic. Implement security contexts to enhance the security of the application. Finally, create a Kubernetes Deployment that utilizes this Pod Definition.
Note that once the command is sent, a new tab with Q - Dev title opens up and starts with the code generation task.
Rather than giving a response straight away, the /dev agent iteratively reasons and performs modifications that improve the generation.
After not so long, Amazon Q comes back with the suggested changes which include a pod definition YAML file as well as a deployment YAML file, alongside a README which explains how to use these files inside a Kubernetes Cluster. Instead of copying and pasting from the Chat interface, the
/dev agent works directly with your IDE. It creates the files for you and fills them with the right content, making the process much smoother.
You have the option to accept the changes or provide feedback for Q to regenerate the response. In this case, I accepted the changes and deployed the application to an existing Elastic Kubernetes Service (EKS) cluster.
Amazon Q for Developer did a great job! It created a working Pod Definition, and now the Pod is running in my cluster.
Note: This deployment is not exposed as a service. Amazon Q for Developer can also generate a Service which leverages the specific annotation syntax of the AWS Load Balancer Controller to expose the service through a load balancer. This will be covered in a future installment.
Amazon Q Developer has greatly simplified the process of creating and understanding complex Kubernetes configurations for me. It provides clear explanations, which helps build trust in the code and allows me to concentrate on my innovative ideas rather than getting caught up in the details.
I believe that Amazon Q Developer can offer similar benefits to both new and experienced developers. By making your work easier and reducing errors, it supports your development efforts, allowing you to focus on what you enjoy most—creating remarkable applications.
Happy deploying, and best of luck with your projects!
Any opinions in this post are those of the individual author and may not reflect the opinions of AWS.