¬ just serendipity 🍀 (not just serendipity)

Problem statement: wait before opening an upstream Helm chart upgrade PR, without putting a timer in the PR workflow.

In other words: implement dependency cooldowns¹ in Kargo.

A Kargo Warehouse makes newly discovered Freight immediately available to a Stage that accepts it directly:

Warehouse ──immediate──> open-upgrade-pr ──> PR

Kargo already has requiredSoakTime, but only between Stages. It cannot delay a direct Warehouse-to-Stage promotion. So add a Stage whose promotion deliberately does nothing:

apiVersion: kargo.akuity.io/v1alpha1
kind: Stage
metadata:
  name: hold-upstream-release
spec:
  requestedFreight:
    - origin:
        kind: Warehouse
        name: external-secrets-upstream
      sources:
        direct: true
  promotionTemplate:
    spec:
      steps:
        - uses: compose-output
          config:
            state: holding

The PR Stage accepts Freight from that holding Stage and starts only after the cool-off period:

spec:
  requestedFreight:
    - origin:
        kind: Warehouse
        name: external-secrets-upstream
      sources:
        stages:
          - hold-upstream-release
        requiredSoakTime: 72h0m0s
  promotionTemplate:
    # clone, update chart dependency, push, and open PR

Warehouse ──> hold-upstream-release ──72h──> open-upgrade-pr ──> PR

The holding Stage must auto-promote, as must the PR Stage after its soak. A new release replaces the current Freight in the holding Stage. If the old release did not complete 72 hours, it does not advance. This makes the hold a stability window: only a release that remains current for three days opens a PR.

Explicit Freight approval remains the escape hatch because it bypasses the soak.

🤖 Drafted with /bloggify.