target-bind

Creates the binding between Units and a delivery destination. Once bound, a Unit can be applied through cub-apply.

Confirm verbs and flags with cub <verb> --help before composing — never invent flags.

What a Target is

A Target is a named binding that tells ConfigHub where a Unit's configuration lands when applied. It references a server worker and carries a ProviderType. Two ProviderTypes are relevant:

• OCI — publishes the Unit's data verbatim to ConfigHub's built-in OCI registry. The bridge performs no remote apply (it succeeds immediately and echoes the data back as live state); a puller you configure outside ConfigHub — ArgoCD or Flux — fetches the OCI artifact and deploys it to the cluster. This is the primary delivery path. The OCI transport never routes by toolchain, so a single OCI Target accepts Units of any toolchain (KRM, AppConfig, ConfigHub/YAML).
• ConfigHub — applies ConfigHub-native ConfigHub/YAML config (e.g. Units whose data is ConfigHub entities). Toolchain and live-state type are both ConfigHub/YAML.

You do not need to run an external worker to create or attach a Target. Both providers are server workers: bridges hosted inside the ConfigHub server. You only run an external worker to provide custom worker functions — see worker-bootstrap.

Best practice: one OCI Target per Space (it covers every toolchain in the Space). Add a ConfigHub Target only if the Space also manages ConfigHub-native config. A Target can live in a different Space than the Units that use it and be referenced as <target-space>/<target-slug>.

When to use

• First time binding Units to a delivery destination.
• Setting up OCI publishing for ArgoCD / Flux to consume.
• Changing which Target a Unit applies through.
• Binding many Units to a Target at once (--where).

Do not load for

• Running an external worker for custom functions (worker-bootstrap).
• Running the actual apply (cub-apply).
• Authoring or editing the Unit's data (confighub-core doctrine / cub-mutate).
• Rendering an AppConfig file to a ConfigMap (app-config — that uses an Upsert link, no Target).

Preflight gates

1. cub auth status succeeds — it contacts the server's /me endpoint to confirm the token is still valid (not just local login state). If it fails, ask the user to run cub auth login (an interactive browser sign-in an agent cannot complete).

2. A server worker exists (or create one — it's a single idempotent command, no process to run):

   cub worker create --space <space> --allow-exists --is-server-worker server-worker

   Place it in any Space; reference cross-Space as <space>/server-worker. Add --use-user-identity if the worker should act as the requesting user (required for some ConfigHub-provider operations).

3. For OCI delivery: the user has (or will set up) ArgoCD or Flux configured to pull the published OCI artifact. That configuration lives outside ConfigHub.

The loop

1. Ensure the server worker (preflight step 2)

2. Create the Target

OCI (toolchain defaults to the ToolchainAny wildcard; no parameters needed — it publishes to ConfigHub's OCI registry):

cub target create <target-slug> '' <space>/server-worker \
  --space <target-space> \
  --provider OCI

ConfigHub (ConfigHub-native config):

cub target create <target-slug> '' <space>/server-worker \
  --space <target-space> \
  --provider ConfigHub --toolchain ConfigHub/YAML --livestate-type ConfigHub/YAML

Parameters are the JSON string after the slug ('' = none, the usual case for these providers). Targets are not versioned configuration data — no --change-desc on create/update. Check cub target create --help for the authoritative parameter/option set.

3. Attach Units to the Target

Single Unit:

cub unit set-target <unit-slug> <target-slug> --space <app-space>

Bulk:

cub unit set-target --space <app-space> --where "Labels.App = 'myapp'" <target-slug>

Cross-Space reference uses <target-space>/<target-slug>. cub unit set-target is not a data mutation — it takes no --change-desc. To record why the target changed, mutate the Unit's data in a separate step, or rely on the audit log.

4. Hand off

Target created and Units attached. Next is almost always cub-apply (which publishes to OCI / applies ConfigHub config). Cluster convergence from an OCI publish is ArgoCD/Flux's job — verify it read-only in verify-apply.

Tool boundary

• Mutations: cub worker create --is-server-worker, cub target create/update, cub unit set-target, cub unit update (only when recording a target-change rationale in data).
• Read-only: cub target get/list, cub worker get/list, cub unit livestate/livedata.
• Not allowed: bypassing Targets with kubectl apply / argocd app create / flux create directly.

Stop conditions

• No server worker exists and the user can't create one — stop (it should just be the one idempotent command above).
• User asks to bind to a provider other than OCI or ConfigHub — those are the supported delivery providers; clarify intent.
• cub unit set-target across --space "*" without a narrow --where — confirm blast radius first.

Verify chain

1. cub target get <target-slug> --space <target-space> — ProviderType (OCI / ConfigHub) and worker are set; for OCI the toolchain is the ToolchainAny wildcard.
2. cub unit get <unit-slug> --space <app-space> — TargetID points at the expected Target.
3. For bulk: cub unit list --space <app-space> --where "TargetID IS NOT NULL" count matches the --where selection.

Evidence

• cub target get <target-slug> --space <target-space> --web — Target page in the GUI.
• cub unit get <unit-slug> --space <app-space> --web — Unit page shows the Target binding and apply state.

References

• cub target create --help, cub worker create --help — authoritative flags/parameters.
• Target entity: https://docs.confighub.com/markdown/background/entities/target.md.
• references/cub-cli.md — CLI conventions.
• references/filters-and-queries.md — the TargetID IS NOT NULL pattern for verifying bulk bindings.
• Companion skills: worker-bootstrap (server workers + external workers for custom functions), cub-apply (apply/publish), verify-apply (confirm Argo/Flux picked up the OCI artifact).