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Initializing MySQL from a Git Repository
This guide demonstrates how to use KubeDB to initialize a MySQL database with initialization scripts (.sql, .sh, .js and/or .sql.gz) stored in a public or private Git repository.
To fetch the repository contents, KubeDB uses a sidecar container called git-sync.
In this example, we will initialize MySQL using a .sql script from the GitHub repository kubedb/mysql-init-scripts.
Before You Begin
At first, you need to have a Kubernetes cluster, and the
kubectlcommand-line tool must be configured to communicate with your cluster. If you do not already have a cluster, you can create one by using kind.Now, install KubeDB operator in your cluster by following the steps here.
To keep everything isolated, we are going to use a separate namespace called demo throughout this tutorial.
$ kubectl create ns demo
namespace/demo created
From Public Git Repository
KubeDB implements a MySQL Custom Resource Definition (CRD) to define the specification of a MySQL database.
To initialize the database from a public Git repository, you need to specify the required arguments for the git-sync sidecar container within the MySQL resource specification.
The following YAML manifest shows an example MySQL object configured with git-sync:
apiVersion: kubedb.com/v1
kind: MySQL
metadata:
name: sample-mysql
namespace: demo
spec:
init:
script:
scriptPath: "current"
git:
args:
- --repo=https://github.com/kubedb/mysql-init-scripts
- --link=current
- --root=/git
# terminate after one successful sync
- --one-time
version: "9.1.0"
storage:
accessModes:
- ReadWriteOnce
resources:
requests:
storage: 1Gi
deletionPolicy: WipeOut
kubectl create -f https://github.com/kubedb/docs/raw/v2025.10.17/docs/guides/mysql/initialization/yamls/git-sync-public.yaml
MySQL.kubedb.com/sample-mysql created
The git-sync container has two required flags:
--repo– specifies the remote Git repository to sync.--root– specifies the working directory where the repository will be cloned.Here name/gitis fixed
Here, the value of the --link argument must match the value of spec.init.script.scriptPath.
The --link argument creates a symlink that always points to the latest synced data.
To know more about
git-syncconfiguration visit this link.
Now, wait until sample-mysql has status Ready. i.e,
$ kubectl get mysql -n demo
NAME VERSION STATUS AGE
sample-mysql 9.1.0 Ready 42m
Next, we will connect to the MySQL database and verify the data inserted from the *.sql script stored in the Git repository.
$ kubectl exec -it -n demo sample-mysql-0 -- bash
Defaulted container "mysql" out of: mysql, mysql-init (init), git-sync (init)
bash-5.1$ mysql -uroot -p$MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD
mysql: [Warning] Using a password on the command line interface can be insecure.
Welcome to the MySQL monitor. Commands end with ; or \g.
Your MySQL connection id is 156
Server version: 9.1.0 MySQL Community Server - GPL
Copyright (c) 2000, 2024, Oracle and/or its affiliates.
Oracle is a registered trademark of Oracle Corporation and/or its
affiliates. Other names may be trademarks of their respective
owners.
Type 'help;' or '\h' for help. Type '\c' to clear the current input statement.
mysql> show databases;
+--------------------+
| Database |
+--------------------+
| information_schema |
| kubedb_system |
| mysql |
| performance_schema |
| sys |
+--------------------+
5 rows in set (0.02 sec)
mysql> use mysql;
Reading table information for completion of table and column names
You can turn off this feature to get a quicker startup with -A
Database changed
mysql> select * from kubedb_table;
+----+-------+
| id | name |
+----+-------+
| 1 | name1 |
| 2 | name2 |
| 3 | name3 |
+----+-------+
3 rows in set (0.00 sec)
mysql> select * from kubedb_table;
+----+-------+
| id | name |
+----+-------+
| 1 | name1 |
| 2 | name2 |
| 3 | name3 |
+----+-------+
3 rows in set (0.00 sec)
From Private Git Repository
1. Using SSH Key
Git-sync supports using SSH protocol for pulling git content.
First, Obtain the host keys for your git server:
$ ssh-keyscan $YOUR_GIT_HOST > /tmp/known_hosts
$YOUR_GIT_HOSTrefers to the hostname of your Git server.
For example, if you are using GitHub, set the variable as follows:export YOUR_GIT_HOST=github.com
Use the kubectl create secret command to create a secret from your local SSH key and known hosts file.
This secret will be used by git-sync to authenticate with the Git repository.
Here, we are using the default SSH key file located at
$HOME/.ssh/id_rsa. If your SSH key is stored in a different location, please update the command accordingly. Also you can use any name instead ofgit-credsto create the secret.
$ kubectl create secret generic -n demo git-creds \
--from-file=ssh=$HOME/.ssh/id_rsa \
--from-file=known_hosts=/tmp/known_hosts
The following YAML manifest provides an example of a MySQL resource configured to use git-sync with a private Git repository:
apiVersion: kubedb.com/v1
kind: MySQL
metadata:
name: sample-mysql
namespace: demo
spec:
init:
script:
scriptPath: "current"
git:
args:
# update with your private repository
- --repo=<private_git_repo_ssh_url>
- --link=current
- --root=/git
# terminate after one successful sync
- --one-time
authSecret:
# the name of the secret created above
name: git-creds
# run as git sync user
securityContext:
runAsUser: 65533
version: "9.1.0"
storage:
accessModes:
- ReadWriteOnce
resources:
requests:
storage: 1Gi
deletionPolicy: WipeOut
kubectl create -f https://github.com/kubedb/docs/raw/v2025.10.17/docs/guides/mysql/initialization/yamls/git-sync-ssh.yaml
MySQL.kubedb.com/sample-mysql created
Here,
.spec.init.git.securityContext.runAsUser: 65533ensure the container runs as the dedicated non-rootgit-syncuser..spec.init.git.authSecretspecifies the secret containing theSSHkey.
Once the database reaches the Ready state, you can verify the data using the method described above.
2. Using Username and Personal Access Token(PAT)
First, create a Personal Access Token (PAT) on your Git host server with the required permissions to access the repository.
Then create a Kubernetes secret using the Personal Access Token (PAT):
Here, you can use any key name instead of
git-patto store the token in the secret.
$ kubectl create secret generic -n demo git-pat \
--from-literal=github-pat=<ghp_yourpersonalaccesstoken>
Now, create a MySQL resource that references the secret created above.
The following YAML manifest shows an example:
apiVersion: kubedb.com/v1
kind: MySQL
metadata:
name: sample-mysql
namespace: demo
spec:
init:
script:
scriptPath: "current"
git:
args:
# update with your private repository
- --repo=<private_git_repo_http_url>
- --link=current
- --root=/git
- --credential={"url":"https://github.com","username":"<username>","password-file":"/etc/git-secret/github-pat"}
# terminate after one successful sync
- --one-time
authSecret:
# the name of the secret created above
name: git-pat
# run as git sync user
securityContext:
runAsUser: 65533
version: "9.1.0"
storage:
accessModes:
- ReadWriteOnce
resources:
requests:
storage: 1Gi
deletionPolicy: WipeOut
kubectl create -f https://github.com/kubedb/docs/raw/v2025.10.17/docs/guides/mysql/initialization/yamls/git-sync-pat.yaml
MySQL.kubedb.com/sample-mysql created
Once the database reaches the Ready state, you can verify the data using the method described above.
CleanUp
To clean up the Kubernetes resources created by this tutorial, run:
$ kubectl delete MySQL -n demo sample-mysql
$ kubectl delete ns demo