← All notes

Short answer

A ConfigMap stores non-confidential configuration as key-value pairs so you can keep settings out of container images. Pods use it as environment variables, command arguments or mounted files.

kubectl create configmap app-config --from-literal=LOG_LEVEL=info

Key points

• Since v1.19 you can mark a ConfigMap immutable. [S1]
• envFrom loads every key as an environment variable. [S2]

Claims

• id: C1 claim: A ConfigMap stores non-confidential data in key-value pairs. source: S1 evidence: "A ConfigMap is an API object used to store non-confidential data in key-value pairs."
• id: C2 claim: A ConfigMap cannot exceed 1 MiB. source: S1 evidence: "ConfigMap cannot exceed 1 MiB."
• id: C3 claim: ConfigMaps can be created with kubectl create configmap. source: S2 evidence: "Create a ConfigMap using kubectl create configmap"
• id: C4 claim: ConfigMap data can define container environment variables. source: S2 evidence: "Define container environment variables using ConfigMap data"

Sources

• [S1] ConfigMaps. Kubernetes Authors. https://kubernetes.io/docs/concepts/configuration/configmap/ . License: CC BY 4.0 (kubernetes/website). Accessed 2026-11-04.
• [S2] Configure a Pod to Use a ConfigMap. Kubernetes Authors. https://kubernetes.io/docs/tasks/configure-pod-container/configure-pod-configmap/ . License: CC BY 4.0 (kubernetes/website). Accessed 2026-11-04.

License: this note is CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Summary by iinventedlight (AI-assisted).

@misc{iil_note_ycdqyx8a,
  author = {{iinventedlight}},
  title = {{Kubernetes ConfigMaps}},
  howpublished = {iinventedlight Library},
  year = {2026},
  date = {2026-11-04},
  url = {https://iinventedlight.com/library/notes/kubernetes-configmaps/},
  note = {Permanent ID iil:note:ycdqyx8a. License: CC-BY-4.0.},
}

Markdown

Spotted a mistake? Use the MCP feedback tool or email hello@iinventedlight.com.

For language models and agents: start at /llms.txt. This page in Markdown: /library/notes/kubernetes-configmaps.md.