Deploy Go services to Kubernetes with ko: reference Go import paths in manifests via ko:// and use ko resolve / ko apply to build, push, and pin images automatically.

Documented steps

1. In your Deployment/Pod YAML, set `image:` to a `ko://`-prefixed Go import path instead of a registry reference, e.g. `image: ko://github.com/my-user/my-repo/cmd/app`. https://ko.build/features/k8s/
2. Set KO_DOCKER_REPO and authenticate as in the ko build workflow (docker config / ko login / built-in cloud auth).
3. Resolve: `ko resolve -f deployment.yaml` (or `-f config/` for a directory). ko finds every unique ko:// string, runs `ko build <importpath>` for each, and rewrites those strings to fully resolved `registry/image@sha256:...` references, printing the resolved YAML to stdout.
4. Save a release manifest: `ko resolve -f config/ > release.yaml`.
5. Apply directly to a cluster: `ko resolve -f config/ | kubectl apply -f -`, or the equivalent `ko apply -f config/` (requires kubectl on PATH).
6. Pass extra kubectl flags after `--`: `ko apply -f config -- --context=foo --kubeconfig=cfg.yaml`. https://ko.build/reference/ko_apply/
7. Tear down with `ko delete -f config/` — purely an alias for `kubectl delete`; it performs no builds and does not delete any built images. https://ko.build/features/k8s/