Kubernetes init containers and sidecar containers as an orchestration pattern for distributed initialization. Ordered init containers for single-pod sequencing, an exposer sidecar for cross-pod state sharing, and a coordination protocol that works without a central controller.

Not the hello-world tutorial. The mental model for understanding what K8s is doing under the hood, so when something breaks at 2 AM you know where to look.

Three GitHub Actions workflows form a state machine that continuously tests candidate repo combinations and advances the known-good stack pointer when E2E passes.

Three monorepos, 134+ packages, each with green CI. Staging still breaks. The fix: a dedicated integration hub repo with a known-good stack pointer.