Applying a manifest ¶

nais apply sends a workload manifest to the Nais API. The platform reconciles the desired state — whether you're shipping new code, changing configuration, or updating resources, it's the same operation.

How Nais resolves the image ¶

A running workload needs a container image. Nais resolves it from one of three places, in order of precedence:

--set spec.image at apply time. The value you pass overrides the spec.image field in the manifest. This is how a build-and-deploy workflow hands the freshly built image to the apply step.
The spec.image field in the manifest. If the manifest sets an image and you don't override it, that image is used.
The image already running. If neither the flag nor the manifest provides an image, the CLI queries the Nais API and keeps the image currently running.

The third case decouples configuration changes from code changes: you can update .nais manifests and apply without rebuilding or pushing an image.