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Please use the following category to raise ideas for these offerings for all environments (traditional on premises, containers, on cloud):

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Status Submitted
Workspace Cloud Pak for Business Automation
Created by Guest
Created on May 14, 2026

RELATED IDEAS

Support valueFrom: secretKeyRef / configMapKeyRef env var wiring in the CP4BA CR for data sources, code modules, task services, and ICN plugins.

Use Case

The CP4BA operator and its Custom Resource do not allow customers to bind container environment variables to individual keys inside a Kubernetes Secret or ConfigMap using the standard valueFrom: secretKeyRef / configMapKeyRef pattern. This applies to every place a customer typically needs to inject credentials or config:

  • Data source bindings (Liberty datasources, FileNet CE / P8 datasources)

  • Custom application containers (code modules, task services)

  • ICN custom plugins

  • Navigator container env

Today the CR accepts only literal env values or full-secret mounts (envFrom). There is no per-key binding. As a result, operators must apply post-deployment strategic- merge patches directly against the operator-managed Deployment resources to inject credentials -- patches that are silently reverted whenever the CP4BA operator reconciles the CR.

Proposed Enhancement

Extend the CP4BA CR schema -- initial scope: Navigator, BAW/ADS/ADP custom application containers, Task Services, ICN plugins, and Liberty data source bindings -- to accept the standard Kubernetes EnvVarSource shape, and pass it through to the generated PodSpec verbatim:

customApplication:
env:
- name: APP_DB_PASSWORD
valueFrom:
secretKeyRef:
name: app-db-secret
key: APP_DB_PASSWORD
- name: APP_LOG_LEVEL
valueFrom:
configMapKeyRef:
name: app-runtime-config
key: LOG_LEVEL
No new IBM-specific abstraction is required -- the request is to surface a CR field that is already a first-class concept in every PodSpec on the cluster.

Idea priority Medium

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