Demo Script: FluxCD → Jira Deployments

Total time: ~8 minutes
What you’ll show: Install app → configure secret → set up FluxCD → trigger deployment → see it in Jira

Before you start

Have these open and ready before hitting record:

Terminal (full screen or large window)
Browser with your Jira instance logged in
A Jira issue open (e.g. KAN-1) — the Deployments panel will appear here

Run these commands to make sure everything is clean:

kind delete cluster --name flux-demo 2>/dev/null; true

Part 1 — Show the app in Jira (0:00)

In the browser, go to Jira Settings (gear icon, bottom left) → Apps (left sidebar)
In the left sidebar under Apps, click GitOps Deployments
Show the admin page — configuration status, webhook URLs, event log tab
Point out: “This is where you configure secrets and monitor incoming webhooks”

Part 2 — Configure the FluxCD secret (1:00)

On the admin page, find the FluxCD HMAC Secret field
Enter a secret — type this exactly so it’s easy to follow:
```
my-demo-secret
```
Click Save — show the green success confirmation
Click Copy next to the FluxCD webhook URL — paste it somewhere visible (a text editor)
Point out: “This URL is what FluxCD will send webhook events to”

Part 3 — Set up a local Kubernetes cluster (2:00)

Switch to the terminal.

# Create a local cluster
kind create cluster --name flux-demo

Wait ~30 seconds for the cluster to come up.

# Verify it's running
kubectl cluster-info --context kind-flux-demo

Expected output: cluster is running at 127.0.0.1.

# Install FluxCD controllers
flux install

Wait ~30 seconds. Expected output: ✔ install finished

# Verify all controllers are ready
flux check

Expected output: all green checkmarks.

Part 4 — Connect FluxCD to Jira (3:30)

# Create the HMAC secret in the cluster (same value as the admin page)
kubectl create secret generic jira-webhook-hmac \
  --namespace flux-system \
  --from-literal=token='my-demo-secret'

Now apply the notification provider — replace <WEBHOOK-URL> with the URL you copied:

kubectl apply -f - <<'EOF'
apiVersion: notification.toolkit.fluxcd.io/v1beta3
kind: Provider
metadata:
  name: jira-deployments
  namespace: flux-system
spec:
  type: generic-hmac
  address: <WEBHOOK-URL>
  secretRef:
    name: jira-webhook-hmac
EOF

# Create the alert — watches all HelmReleases in the default namespace
kubectl apply -f - <<'EOF'
apiVersion: notification.toolkit.fluxcd.io/v1beta3
kind: Alert
metadata:
  name: helmrelease-deployments
  namespace: flux-system
spec:
  providerRef:
    name: jira-deployments
  eventSeverity: info
  eventSources:
    - kind: HelmRelease
      name: '*'
      namespace: default
EOF

Part 5 — Deploy an app with Jira annotations (4:30)

kubectl apply -f - <<'EOF'
apiVersion: source.toolkit.fluxcd.io/v1
kind: HelmRepository
metadata:
  name: podinfo
  namespace: default
spec:
  interval: 1m
  url: https://stefanprodan.github.io/podinfo
---
apiVersion: helm.toolkit.fluxcd.io/v2
kind: HelmRelease
metadata:
  name: podinfo
  namespace: default
  annotations:
    event.toolkit.fluxcd.io/jira: "KAN-1"
    event.toolkit.fluxcd.io/env: "production"
    event.toolkit.fluxcd.io/env-type: "production"
    event.toolkit.fluxcd.io/url: "https://github.com/stefanprodan/podinfo"
spec:
  interval: 1m
  chart:
    spec:
      chart: podinfo
      version: "6.x.x"
      sourceRef:
        kind: HelmRepository
        name: podinfo
EOF

Point out the annotations: “These tell the app which Jira issue to link, which environment this is, and a URL for the deployment details link.”

Watch it reconcile:

flux get helmreleases -A --watch

Wait for: READY: True and Helm install succeeded

Part 6 — Watch the webhook fire (5:30)

# Check the notification controller dispatched the event
kubectl logs -n flux-system deployment/notification-controller --since=2m | grep dispatch

Expected output: "msg":"dispatching event" with the HelmRelease name.

Part 7 — Show the deployment in Jira (6:00)

Switch to the browser.

Open the Jira issue KAN-1
In the right sidebar, find the Deployments panel
Show the deployment record — environment name (production), status (Successful), version
Click the deployment to show the detail view

Switch back to the admin page:

Click the Event Log tab
Show the 200 status entry — source flux, deployment state successful
Show the Stats strip at the top — 1 accepted in the last 24 hours

Part 8 — Trigger a second deployment (6:45)

Show that every upgrade creates a new record:

# Change a value to trigger an upgrade
kubectl patch helmrelease podinfo -n default \
  --type=merge -p '{"spec":{"values":{"replicaCount":2}}}'

# Watch it upgrade
flux get helmreleases -A --watch

Switch to Jira — show a second deployment record now appears. Point out: “Each deployment is tracked individually — you get a full history.”

Part 9 — Clean up (optional, off-camera)

kind delete cluster --name flux-demo

Troubleshooting during recording

Problem	Quick fix
`kind create cluster` hangs	Run `podman machine start` first
Provider shows `NotReady`	Check `kubectl describe provider -n flux-system` — usually a network issue reaching the webhook URL
Webhook fires but Jira shows nothing	Verify issue key `KAN-1` exists; check event log for error details
No dispatch log	Confirm Alert has `namespace: default` (not `namespace: '*'`)