Q1 2025 Product Update: All the Latest Features Delivered by Harness
Harness’ Q1 2025 release delivers powerful enhancements across Kubernetes, ECS, Terraform, and GitOps—focusing on precision, governance, and flexibility. From namespace enforcement to ECS weighted traffic shifting and optional Helm configs, these updates help teams deploy faster, safer, and smarter.
The first quarter of 2025 has been packed with innovation from the Harness platform. Earlier this quarter, we shared a roundup of key features in our Early 2025 Harness CD Enhancements blog. This post picks up where that left off, covering all the new features released in the second half of Q1. From enhanced deployment controls to improved platform flexibility, here’s everything you need to know to make the most of the latest updates.
Kubernetes and Helm Enhancements
Kubernetes Diff Step
Harness introduces a native Kubernetes diff step that uses the kubectl diff command to compare the current live state of resources against the upcoming YAML-defined changes. This gives teams a reliable preview of what will change before deployment, helping them catch unintended edits, reduce risk, and maintain environment integrity. Learn more.
Namespace Consistency Enforcement
To avoid accidental misconfigurations, Harness now enforces strict namespace consistency in Kubernetes and Helm deployments. Users can no longer override infrastructure-defined namespaces using CLI flags like --namespace, ensuring predictable behavior and stronger governance.
Learn more about Kubernetes namespace.
Learn more about Helm namespace.
ConfigMap and Secret Volume Mounting
Harness now allows ConfigMaps and Kubernetes Secrets to be mounted directly as volumes in CD container steps. This makes it easier to inject sensitive data and configuration securely, without modifying container images.
Traffic Routing Rewrite Rules
With the new support for Kubernetes traffic routing rewrite rules, teams gain more granular control over request handling. This enables advanced routing strategies that improve the stability and flexibility of production environments. Learn more.
GCP OIDC Cross-Project Access
Harness has expanded GCP OIDC connector functionality to support cross-project access for Kubernetes and native Helm environments. This simplifies authentication across multiple cloud projects. Learn more.
Helm CRD Support
Harness now fully supports Helm charts containing Custom Resource Definitions (CRDs), even when those CRDs exist outside the target namespace. By enforcing the helm upgrade --install pattern, this enhancement avoids common CRD-related failures and ensures smoother, more consistent Helm deployments. Learn more.
Optional Values Support in Kubernetes and Helm Deployments
Harness now enables users to proceed with Kubernetes and Helm deployments without requiring a values.yaml file or override file in the manifest configuration. This optional configuration support includes two key capabilities:
- Kubernetes Manifest Optional Values: Users can now deploy Helm charts in Kubernetes without configuring a values.yaml file in the manifest section. This is especially useful for simple deployments where defaults suffice. Learn more.
- Helm Manifest Optional Values and Override Files: Teams can now skip both the values.yaml file and override files when configuring a Helm service. To enable this, users can add an additional override file or edit an existing one in the manifest section, then check the Optional box under the File Path field in the Manifest Details tab. If the file is not found at deployment time, the deployment will still proceed successfully. Learn more.
GCP OIDC Cross-Project Access
Harness has expanded GCP OIDC connector functionality to support cross-project access for Kubernetes and native Helm environments. This simplifies authentication across multiple cloud projects. Learn more.
AWS Enhancements
Breakthrough in ECS Blue Green Deployments
Harness now brings advanced deployment control to ECS Blue Green strategies with weighted traffic shifting. This powerful new capability enables gradual rollouts, minimizes risk during production changes, and allows teams to fine-tune traffic distribution for greater safety and confidence. Whether you're deploying critical updates or experimenting with canary-like tactics, this marks a huge leap in ECS deployment precision. Learn more.
Large Lambda Artifact Support
Harness now supports the deployment of AWS Lambda artifacts larger than 50MB stored in S3. This removes a long-standing limitation and enables greater flexibility for large-function applications. Learn more.
Terraform Enhancements
Editable Git Details for Remote Entities
Users can now edit Git configuration details for remote entities directly through the Terraform provider, increasing control and alignment with your infrastructure as code strategy.
Project Selection in Terraform Cloud Run Step
Harness now allows users to select the specific project that contains the workspace used during a Terraform Cloud run, providing more flexibility and clarity. Learn more.
Auto-Approval of Terraform Cloud Refresh Runs
Terraform Cloud runs of type "Refresh" are now auto-approved by default, accelerating your feedback loop and reducing manual approval bottlenecks. Learn more
Artifact Management Enhancements
Platform-Based Artifact Fetching
Users can now fetch artifacts directly via the Harness Platform when the connector is set to connect through it. This eliminates unnecessary delegate tasks, speeding up the delivery process.
Manifest Connector Metadata Exposure
Harness now supports retrieving the connector URL from service manifests using the expression <+manifests.MANIFEST_ID.store.connectorUrl>. This improves transparency and debugging during deployment workflows.
Triggers and Git Experience Enhancements
Enforced Git Experience for Core Resources
Users can now enforce Git-based experience for environments, infrastructure, and overrides V2. This brings parity with the Git experience already available for templates and pipelines, fostering consistency across all resources.
Tag-Based Pipeline Triggers in GitLab
Harness now supports pipeline triggers in GitLab repositories when new tags are created or pushed. This enhances automation in GitOps workflows. Learn more.
Governance and Approval Workflow Enhancements
Consolidated Approval Notifications
Users who belong to multiple user groups assigned to an approval step will now receive just one approval email, reducing redundancy and noise.
Environment-Type-Based Freeze Windows
Deployment Freeze Windows can now be scoped based on environment types. This enables more targeted release governance across pre-production and production environment types. Learn more.
Enhanced ServiceNow Approval Logging
ServiceNow Approval step logs are now more informative and easier to understand, helping with faster troubleshooting and validation. Learn more.
ServiceNow Approval Output Variables
Harness now exposes several output variables in the ServiceNow Approval step—such as ticket type, number, and evaluation criteria—providing better visibility and decision tracking. Learn more.
Platform and Performance Enhancements
Protocol Buffer Upgrade
Harness has upgraded its protocol buffer implementation from protobuf-java 3.15.5 to 4.28.3. This security-focused update modernizes internal services without requiring user-side changes.
Custom Concurrency for Multi-Deployment Stages
Users can now configure custom maxConcurrency values in multi-deployment stages, granting greater control over parallel execution behavior. Learn more.
Improved Cluster Visibility in Rancher Connector
The Rancher connector now displays user-friendly cluster display names instead of project IDs, improving clarity during cluster selection.
Observability and API Improvements
Deployment Status API Endpoint
Harness now provides an API endpoint that returns the latest deployment status of a given service, improving observability and automation potential.
HTTP Step Response Headers as Output Variables
Users can now capture HTTP response headers, including cookies, as output variables from the HTTP step. This expands post-request analysis capabilities. Learn more.
Multiline Output Variables in CD Pipelines
Harness now fully supports capturing and displaying multiline output variables in CD pipelines from container steps, ensuring no data is lost or truncated.
What This Means for You
Each feature in this quarterly release reflects Harness' focus on reliability, scalability, and user empowerment. Whether you're managing multi-cloud infrastructure, automating workflows, or enforcing governance, these updates provide the tools you need to move faster and deploy safer.
These enhancements are not just incremental improvements—they’re foundational upgrades designed to help teams build better software with confidence. As we continue into 2025, expect even more innovation, tighter integrations, and features that simplify the complex.
Next Steps
These new features represent our continued commitment to simplifying deployments and providing teams with powerful automation tools. Stay tuned as we continue to push the boundaries of continuous delivery innovation!
What’s your favorite new feature? Let us know how these improvements are making a difference in your deployment workflows!
To keep up to date with our feature releases, check out our release notes.
If you want to take a look at what features are coming out next, take a look at our roadmap.
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