Contour Ingress Controller Skill

Manage Contour HTTPProxy resources, TLS delegation, rate limiting, and Envoy proxy configuration.

Core Helper Functions

#!/bin/bash

CONTOUR_NS="${CONTOUR_NAMESPACE:-projectcontour}"

# Get Contour CRDs via kubectl
contour_get() {
    local resource="$1" ns="${2:---all-namespaces}"
    if [ "$ns" = "--all-namespaces" ]; then
        kubectl get "$resource" -A -o json 2>/dev/null
    else
        kubectl get "$resource" -n "$ns" -o json 2>/dev/null
    fi
}

# Contour CLI wrapper
contour_cmd() {
    kubectl exec -n "$CONTOUR_NS" deploy/contour -- contour "$@" 2>/dev/null
}

MANDATORY: Discovery-First Pattern

Phase 1: Discovery

#!/bin/bash

echo "=== Contour Pods ==="
kubectl get pods -n "$CONTOUR_NS" -o json 2>/dev/null | jq -r '
    .items[] | "\(.metadata.name)\t\(.status.phase)\tRestarts: \(.status.containerStatuses[0].restartCount // 0)"
' | column -t

echo ""
echo "=== HTTPProxy Resources ==="
contour_get httpproxies | jq -r '
    .items[] | "\(.metadata.namespace)\t\(.metadata.name)\t\(.spec.virtualhost.fqdn // "included")\tValid: \(.status.currentStatus // "n/a")\tDesc: \(.status.description // "")"
' | column -t | head -20

echo ""
echo "=== Standard Ingress Resources ==="
kubectl get ingress -A -o json 2>/dev/null | jq -r '
    .items[] | select(.spec.ingressClassName == "contour" or .metadata.annotations["kubernetes.io/ingress.class"] == "contour") |
    "\(.metadata.namespace)\t\(.metadata.name)\t\(.spec.rules[0].host // "*")"
' | column -t | head -10

echo ""
echo "=== TLS Certificates ==="
contour_get httpproxies | jq -r '
    .items[] | select(.spec.virtualhost.tls) |
    "\(.metadata.name)\t\(.spec.virtualhost.fqdn)\tSecret: \(.spec.virtualhost.tls.secretName // "delegation")\tMinVer: \(.spec.virtualhost.tls.minimumProtocolVersion // "1.2")"
' | column -t | head -15

echo ""
echo "=== TLS Certificate Delegations ==="
contour_get tlscertificatedelegations | jq -r '
    .items[]? | "\(.metadata.name)\t\(.metadata.namespace)\t\(.spec.delegations[].secretName)\t->\t\(.spec.delegations[].targetNamespaces | join(","))"
' | column -t | head -10

echo ""
echo "=== Envoy Service (Load Balancer) ==="
kubectl get svc -n "$CONTOUR_NS" envoy -o json 2>/dev/null | jq '{
    type: .spec.type, clusterIP: .spec.clusterIP,
    externalIPs: .status.loadBalancer.ingress,
    ports: [.spec.ports[] | {name, port, targetPort}]
}'

Phase 2: Analysis

#!/bin/bash
HTTPPROXY="${1:?HTTPProxy name required}"
NS="${2:-default}"

echo "=== HTTPProxy Configuration ==="
contour_get httpproxies "$NS" | jq --arg name "$HTTPPROXY" '
    .items[] | select(.metadata.name == $name) | {
        fqdn: .spec.virtualhost.fqdn,
        tls: .spec.virtualhost.tls,
        routes: [.spec.routes[]? | {
            conditions: .conditions,
            services: [.services[] | {name, port, weight}],
            rateLimitPolicy: .rateLimitPolicy,
            retryPolicy: .retryPolicy,
            timeoutPolicy: .timeoutPolicy
        }],
        includes: .spec.includes,
        status: .status
    }'

echo ""
echo "=== Route Details ==="
contour_get httpproxies "$NS" | jq --arg name "$HTTPPROXY" '
    .items[] | select(.metadata.name == $name) | .spec.routes[]? | {
        conditions, services: [.services[] | "\(.name):\(.port) w=\(.weight // 100)"],
        requestHeaders: .requestHeadersPolicy,
        responseHeaders: .responseHeadersPolicy
    }' | head -25

echo ""
echo "=== Included HTTPProxies ==="
contour_get httpproxies "$NS" | jq --arg name "$HTTPPROXY" -r '
    .items[] | select(.metadata.name == $name) | .spec.includes[]? |
    "\(.name)\t\(.namespace)\tConditions: \(.conditions // [] | map(.prefix) | join(","))"
' | column -t | head -10

echo ""
echo "=== Contour Status ==="
contour_cmd "cli status" 2>/dev/null || kubectl logs -n "$CONTOUR_NS" deploy/contour --tail=10 2>/dev/null | grep -i "error\|warning" | tail -5

Output Rules

• TOKEN EFFICIENCY: Target <=50 lines per output
• Show FQDN -> route -> service relationships clearly
• Include HTTPProxy status (Valid/Invalid) in output

Safety Rules

• Read-only by default: Use get/describe for inspection
• HTTPProxy changes affect Envoy routing after config sync
• TLS delegation changes can break TLS for dependent namespaces
• Never delete root HTTPProxy without checking for includes

Output Format

Present results as a structured report:

Managing Contour Report
═══════════════════════
Resources discovered: [count]

Resource       Status    Key Metric    Issues
──────────────────────────────────────────────
[name]         [ok/warn] [value]       [findings]

Summary: [total] resources | [ok] healthy | [warn] warnings | [crit] critical
Action Items: [list of prioritized findings]

Target ≤50 lines of output. Use tables for multi-resource comparisons.

Anti-Hallucination Rules

1. NEVER assume resource names — always discover via CLI/API in Phase 1 before referencing in Phase 2.
2. NEVER fabricate metric names or dimensions — verify against the service documentation or --help output.
3. NEVER mix CLI commands between service versions — confirm which version/API you are targeting.
4. ALWAYS use the discovery → verify → analyze chain — every resource referenced must have been discovered first.
5. ALWAYS handle empty results gracefully — an empty response is valid data, not an error to retry.

Counter-Rationalizations

Shortcut	Counter	Why
"I'll skip discovery and check known resources"	Always run Phase 1 discovery first	Resource names change, new resources appear — assumed names cause errors
"The user only asked for a quick check"	Follow the full discovery → analysis flow	Quick checks miss critical issues; structured analysis catches silent failures
"Default configuration is probably fine"	Audit configuration explicitly	Defaults often leave logging, security, and optimization features disabled
"Metrics aren't needed for this"	Always check relevant metrics when available	API/CLI responses show current state; metrics reveal trends and intermittent issues
"I don't have access to that"	Try the command and report the actual error	Assumed permission failures prevent useful investigation; actual errors are informative

Common Pitfalls

• HTTPProxy vs Ingress: Contour supports both; HTTPProxy is preferred for advanced features
• Inclusion/delegation: Child HTTPProxies must be in the correct namespace and explicitly included
• Status validation: HTTPProxy status shows Valid/Invalid; Invalid means Envoy won't serve it
• TLS delegation: Certificates can be shared across namespaces via TLSCertificateDelegation
• Rate limiting: Requires external rate limit service (e.g., Envoy ratelimit) to be deployed