---
title: "Manage policies with YAML"
slug: "manage-policies-with-yaml"
updated: 2026-07-19T13:03:28Z
published: 2026-07-19T13:03:28Z
canonical: "docs.zesty.co/manage-policies-with-yaml"
---

> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.zesty.co/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Manage policies with YAML

This section describes how to use YAML to manage existing policies in the following ways:

- Change which policy manages a workload
- Stop optimization of a workload

There is also a table of common **kubectl** commands.

### Change which policy manages a workload

To change the policy that manages a workload, edit the policy selectors on the current and the desired policy.

> [!NOTE]
> Tip
> 
> To avoid an unmanaged gap, add the workload to the new policy **before** removing it from the old policy.

### Stop optimization of a workload

To stop optimizing a workload, remove the workload from policy selection, using the relevant solution:

- Remove it from the policy’s `appList` selector.
- Update the policy label selector so it no longer matches the workload.
- Remove the policy annotation from the workload.

After removing, the workload may still be managed if it matches a different policy.

### Common kubectl commands

Replace the values inside [ ] with your values.

**CRDs**

- **Pod rightsizing**:` policies.rightsizing.kompass.zesty.co`
- **Replica optimization**: `policies.horizontalscaling.kompass.zesty.co`

**Annotations**

- **Pod rightsizing**: `rightsizing.kompass.zesty.co/policy: <any rightsizing policy> `
- **Replica optimization**: `horizontalscaling.kompass.zesty.co/policy: <any rightsizing policy> `

| To do this | Use this command |
| --- | --- |
| List policies | `kubectl get [policy-crd]` |
| View a policy manifest | `kubectl get [policy-crd] [policy-name] -o yaml` |
| Create or update a policy | `kubectl apply -f [policy-file].yaml` |
| Add or update the workload policy annotation | `kubectl annotate [workload-kind]/[workload-name] -n [namespace] [policy-annotation-key]=[policy-name] --overwrite` |
| Remove the workload policy annotation | `kubectl annotate [workload-kind]/[workload-name] -n [namespace] [policy-annotation-key]-` |
| Delete a custom policy | `kubectl delete [policy-crd] [policy-name]` |