Write your first machine charm

In this tutorial you will learn all the basic things that you need to know to start writing a machine charm for Juju.

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What you’ll need:

• A workstation, e.g., a laptop, with amd64 architecture and which has sufficient resources to launch a virtual machine with 4 CPUs, 8 GB RAM, and 50 GB disk space
• Familiarity with Linux
• Familiarity with Juju
• Familiarity with object-oriented programming in Python

What you’ll do:

• Study your application
• Set up your development environment

1. Enable juju deploy microsample-vm
2. Enable juju deploy microsample-vm --config channel=<channel>
3. Enable juju status with App Version

• Clean up: Destroy your test environment
• Next steps

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Study your application

In this tutorial we will be writing a charm for Microsample (microsample) – a small educational application that delivers a Flask microservice.

The application has been packaged and published as a snap (https://snapcraft.io/microsample). We will write our charm such that juju deploy will install it from this snap. This will make workload installation straightforward and upgrades automatic (as they will happen automatically through snapd).

The application snap has been released into multiple channels – edge, beta, candidate, and stable. We will write our charm such that a user can choose the channel they prefer by running juju deploy microsample channel=<value>.

The application has other features that we can exploit, but for now this is enough to get us started with a simple charm.

Set up your development environment

See Set up your development environment automatically for instructions on how to set up your development environment so that it’s ready for you to test-deploy your charm. At the charm directory step, call it microsample-vm. At the cloud step, choose LXD.

Enable juju deploy microsample-vm

Let’s charm our microsample application into a microsample-vm charm such that a user can successfully install it on any machine cloud simply by running juju deploy microsample-vm!

In your Multipass VM shell, enter your charm directory, run charmcraft init --profile machine to initialise the file tree structure for your machine charm, and inspect the result. Sample session:

# Enter your charm directory:
ubuntu@charm-dev:~$ cd microsample-vm/

# Initialise the charm tree structure:
ubuntu@charm-dev:~/microsample-vm$ charmcraft init --profile machine
Charmed operator package file and directory tree initialised.                              
                                                                                           
Now edit the following package files to provide fundamental charm metadata                 
and other information:                                                                     
                                                                                           
charmcraft.yaml                                                                            
src/charm.py                                                                               
README.md                                                                                  
                                                                       
# Inspect the result:                    
ubuntu@charm-dev:~/microsample-vm$ ls -R
.:
CONTRIBUTING.md  README.md        pyproject.toml    src    tox.ini
LICENSE          charmcraft.yaml  requirements.txt  tests

./src:
charm.py

./tests:
integration  unit

./tests/integration:
test_charm.py

./tests/unit:
test_charm.py

See more: How to set up a charm project, List of files in a charm project

In your local editor, open the charmcraft.yaml file and customise its contents as below (you only have to edit the title, summary, and description):

# (Required)
name: microsample-vm
 
# (Required)
type: charm

# (Recommended)
title: Microsample VM Charm

# (Required)
summary: A charm that deploys the microsample snap and allows for a configuration of the snap channel via juju config.

# (Required)
description: |
  A machine charm for the Microsample application, built on top of the `microsample` snap.

  The charm allows you to deploy the application via `juju deploy`. 
  It also defines a channel config that allows you to choose which snap channel to install from during deployment.

  This charm makes it easy to deploy the Microsample application on any machine cloud.

  The primary value of this charm is educational -- beginner machine charms can study it to learn how to build a machine charm.   

# (Required for 'charm' type)
bases:
  - build-on:
    - name: ubuntu
      channel: "22.04"
    run-on:
    - name: ubuntu
      channel: "22.04"

See more: File charmcraft.yaml

Now open the src/charm.py file and update it as below (you’ll have to add an import statement for os and an observer and handler for the install event – in the definition of which you’ll be using os and ops).

#!/usr/bin/env python3
import os
import logging
import ops

logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)

class MicrosampleVmCharm(ops.CharmBase):

    def __init__(self, *args):
        super().__init__(*args)
        self.framework.observe(self.on.start, self._on_start)
        self.framework.observe(self.on.install, self._on_install)

    def _on_start(self, event: ops.StartEvent):
        """Handle start event."""
        self.unit.status = ops.ActiveStatus()

    def _on_install(self, event: ops.InstallEvent):
        """Handle install event."""
        self.unit.status = ops.MaintenanceStatus("Installing microsample snap")
        os.system(f"snap install microsample --channel edge")
        self.unit.status = ops.ActiveStatus("Ready")  


if __name__ == "__main__":  # pragma: nocover
    ops.main(MicrosampleVmCharm)  # type: ignore

See more: File src/charm.py, Ops, Event start, Event install

Next, in your Multipass VM shell, inside your project directory, run charmcraft pack to pack the charm. It may take a few minutes the first time around but, when it’s done, your charm project should contain a .charm file. Sample session:

# Pack the charm into a '.charm' file:
ubuntu@charm-dev:~/microsample-vm$ charmcraft pack
Created 'microsample-vm_ubuntu-22.04-amd64.charm'.                                         
Charms packed:                                                                             
    microsample-vm_ubuntu-22.04-amd64.charm                                                      

# Inspect the results -- your charm's root directory should contain a .charm file:
ubuntu@charm-dev:~/microsample-vm$ ls
CONTRIBUTING.md  charmcraft.yaml                          requirements.txt  tox.ini
LICENSE          microsample-vm_ubuntu-22.04-amd64.charm  src
README.md        pyproject.toml                           tests

See more: How to pack a charm

Now, open a new shell into your Multipass VM and use it to configure the Juju log verbosity levels and to start a live debug session:

# Set your logging verbosity level to `DEBUG`:
ubuntu@charm-dev:~$  juju model-config logging-config="<root>=WARNING;unit=DEBUG"

# Start a live debug session:
ubuntu@charm-dev:~$  juju debug-log

In your old VM shell, use Juju to deploy your charm. If all has gone well, you should see your App and Unit – Workload status show as active:

# Deploy the Microsample VM charm as the 'microsample' application:
ubuntu@charm-dev:~/microsample-vm$ juju deploy ./microsample-vm_ubuntu-22.04-amd64.charm microsample
Located local charm "microsample-vm", revision 0
Deploying "microsample" from local charm "microsample-vm", revision 0 on ubuntu@22.04/stable

# Check the deployment status 
# (use --watch 1s to update it automatically at 1s intervals):
ubuntu@charm-dev:~/microsample-vm$ juju status
Model        Controller  Cloud/Region         Version  SLA          Timestamp
welcome-lxd  lxd         localhost/localhost  3.1.6    unsupported  12:49:26+01:00

App          Version  Status  Scale  Charm           Channel  Rev  Exposed  Message
microsample           active      1  microsample-vm             0  no       

Unit            Workload  Agent  Machine  Public address  Ports  Message
microsample/0*  active    idle   1        10.122.219.101         

Machine  State    Address         Inst id        Base          AZ  Message
1        started  10.122.219.101  juju-f25b73-1  ubuntu@22.04      Running

Finally, test that the service works by executing curl on your application unit:

ubuntu@charm-dev:~/microsample-vm$  juju exec --unit microsample/0 -- "curl -s http://localhost:8080"
Online

Enable juju deploy microsample-vm --config channel=<channel>

Let’s now evolve our charm so that a user can successfully choose which version of microsample they want installed by running juju config microsample-vm channel=<their preferred channel>!

In your local editor, in your charmcraft.yaml file, define the configuration option as below:

config:
  options:
    channel:
      description: |
        Channel for the microsample snap.
      default: "edge"
      type: string

See more: File charmcraft.yaml > Key config

Then, in the src/charm.py file, update the _on_install function to make use of the new configuration option, as below:

def _on_install(self, event: ops.ConfigChangedEvent):
    """Handle install event."""
    self.unit.status = ops.MaintenanceStatus("Installing microsample snap")
    channel = self.config.get('channel')
    if channel in ['beta', 'edge', 'candidate', 'stable']:
        os.system(f"snap install microsample --{channel}")
        self.unit.status = ops.ActiveStatus("Ready")
    else:
        self.unit.status = ops.BlockedStatus("Invalid channel configured.")

Now, in your Multipass VM shell, inside your project directory, pack the charm, refresh it in the Juju model, and inspect the results:

# Pack the charm:
ubuntu@charm-dev:~/microsample-vm$ charmcraft pack
Created 'microsample-vm_ubuntu-22.04-amd64.charm'.                                        
Charms packed:                                                                            
    microsample-vm_ubuntu-22.04-amd64.charm                                               

# Refresh the application from the repacked charm:
ubuntu@charm-dev:~/microsample-vm$ juju refresh microsample --path=./microsample-vm_ubuntu-22.04-amd64.charm
Added local charm "microsample-vm", revision 1, to the model

# Verify that the new configuration option is available:
ubuntu@charm-dev:~/microsample-vm$ juju config microsample
application: microsample
application-config: 
  trust: 
    default: false
    description: Does this application have access to trusted credentials
    source: default
    type: bool
    value: false
charm: microsample-vm
settings: 
  channel: 
    default: edge
    description: |
      Channel for the microsample snap.
    source: default
    type: string
    value: edge

Back to the src/charm.py file, in the __init__ function of your charm, observe the config-changed event and pair it with an event handler:

self.framework.observe(self.on.config_changed, self._on_config_changed)

See more: Event config-changed

Next, in the body of the charm definition, define the event handler, as below:

def _on_config_changed(self, event: ops.ConfigChangedEvent):
    channel = self.config.get('channel')
    if channel in ['beta', 'edge', 'candidate', 'stable']:
        os.system(f"snap refresh microsample --{channel}")
        self.unit.status = ops.ActiveStatus("Ready at '%s'" % channel)
    else:
        self.unit.status = ops.BlockedStatus("Invalid channel configured.")

Now, in your Multipass VM shell, inside your project directory, pack the charm, refresh it in the Juju model, and inspect the results:

# Pack the charm:
ubuntu@charm-dev:~/microsample-vm$ charmcraft pack
Created 'microsample-vm_ubuntu-22.04-amd64.charm'.                                        
Charms packed:                                                                            
    microsample-vm_ubuntu-22.04-amd64.charm              

# Refresh the application:                                 
ubuntu@charm-dev:~/microsample-vm$ juju refresh microsample --path=./microsample-vm_ubuntu-22.04-amd64.charm
Added local charm "microsample-vm", revision 2, to the model

# Change the 'channel' config to 'beta':
ubuntu@charm-dev:~/microsample-vm$ juju config microsample channel=beta

# Inspect the Message column
# ('Ready at beta' is what we expect to see if the snap channel has been changed to 'beta'): 
ubuntu@charm-dev:~/microsample-vm$ juju status
Model        Controller  Cloud/Region         Version  SLA          Timestamp
welcome-lxd  lxd         localhost/localhost  3.1.6    unsupported  13:54:53+01:00

App          Version  Status  Scale  Charm           Channel  Rev  Exposed  Message
microsample           active      1  microsample-vm             2  no       Ready at 'beta'

Unit            Workload  Agent  Machine  Public address  Ports  Message
microsample/0*  active    idle   1        10.122.219.101         Ready at 'beta'

Machine  State    Address         Inst id        Base          AZ  Message
1        started  10.122.219.101  juju-f25b73-1  ubuntu@22.04      Running

Congratulations, your charm users can now deploy the application from a specific channel!

Enable juju status with App Version

Let’s evolve our charm so that a user can see which version of the application has been installed simply by running juju status!

In your local editor, update the requirements.txt file as below (you’ll have to add the requests and requests-unixsocket lines):

ops ~= 2.5
requests==2.28.1
requests-unixsocket==0.3.0

See more: File requirements.txt, PyPI > Library requests, PyPI > Library requests-unixsocket

Then, in your src/charm.py file, import the requests_unixsocket package, update the _on_config_changed function to set the workload version to the output of a function _getWorkloadVersion, and define the function to retrieve the Microsample workload version from the snapd API via a Unix socket, as below:

#!/usr/bin/env python3
# Copyright 2023 Ubuntu
# See LICENSE file for licensing details.

"""Charm the application."""

import os
import logging
import ops
import requests_unixsocket

logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)


class MicrosampleVmCharm(ops.CharmBase):
    """Charm the application."""

    def __init__(self, *args):
        super().__init__(*args)
        self.framework.observe(self.on.start, self._on_start)
        self.framework.observe(self.on.install, self._on_install)
        self.framework.observe(self.on.config_changed, self._on_config_changed)

    def _on_start(self, event: ops.StartEvent):
        """Handle start event."""
        self.unit.status = ops.ActiveStatus()

    def _on_install(self, event: ops.InstallEvent):
        """Handle install event."""
        self.unit.status = ops.MaintenanceStatus("Installing microsample snap")
        channel = self.config.get('channel')
        if channel in ['beta', 'edge', 'candidate', 'stable']:
            os.system(f"snap install microsample --{channel}")
            self.unit.status = ops.ActiveStatus("Ready")
        else:
            self.unit.status = ops.BlockedStatus("Invalid channel configured.")

    def _on_config_changed(self, event: ops.ConfigChangedEvent):
        channel = self.config.get('channel')
        if channel in ['beta', 'edge', 'candidate', 'stable']:
            os.system(f"snap refresh microsample --{channel}")
            workload_version = self._getWorkloadVersion()
            self.unit.set_workload_version(workload_version)
            self.unit.status = ops.ActiveStatus("Ready at '%s'" % channel)
        else:
            self.unit.status = ops.BlockedStatus("Invalid channel configured.")

    def _getWorkloadVersion(self):
        """Get the microsample workload version from the snapd API via unix-socket"""
        snap_name = "microsample"
        snapd_url = f"http+unix://%2Frun%2Fsnapd.socket/v2/snaps/{snap_name}"
        session = requests_unixsocket.Session()
        # Use the requests library to send a GET request over the Unix domain socket
        response = session.get(snapd_url)
        # Check if the request was successful
        if response.status_code == 200:
            data = response.json()
            workload_version = data["result"]["version"]
        else:
            workload_version = "unknown"
            print(f"Failed to retrieve Snap apps. Status code: {response.status_code}")

        # Return the workload version
        return workload_version

if __name__ == "__main__":  # pragma: nocover
    ops.main(MicrosampleVmCharm)  # type: ignore

Finally, in your Multipass VM shell, pack the charm, refresh it in Juju, and check the Juju status – it should now show the version of your workload.

# Pack the charm:
ubuntu@charm-dev:~/microsample-vm$ charmcraft pack
Created 'microsample-vm_ubuntu-22.04-amd64.charm'.                                        
Charms packed:                                                                            
    microsample-vm_ubuntu-22.04-amd64.charm                                               

# Refresh the application:
ubuntu@charm-dev:~/microsample-vm$ juju refresh microsample --path=./microsample-vm_ubuntu-22.04-amd64.charm
Added local charm "microsample-vm", revision 3, to the model

# Verify that the App Version now shows the version:
ubuntu@charm-dev:~/microsample-vm$ juju status
Model        Controller  Cloud/Region         Version  SLA          Timestamp
welcome-lxd  lxd         localhost/localhost  3.1.6    unsupported  14:04:39+01:00

App          Version        Status  Scale  Charm           Channel  Rev  Exposed  Message
microsample  0+git.49ff7aa  active      1  microsample-vm             3  no       Ready at 'beta'

Unit            Workload  Agent  Machine  Public address  Ports  Message
microsample/0*  active    idle   1        10.122.219.101         Ready at 'beta'

Machine  State    Address         Inst id        Base          AZ  Message
1        started  10.122.219.101  juju-f25b73-1  ubuntu@22.04      Running

Congratulations, your charm user can view the version of the workload deployed from your charm!

Clean up: Destroy your test environment

See Set up your development environment automatically > Clean up

Next steps

By the end of this tutorial you will have built a machine charm and evolved it in a number of typical ways. But there is a lot more to explore:

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Contributors: @acsgn, @bittner, @erik-lonroth, @mcjaeger, @tmihoc