What is Kubernetes ConfigMap?

ConfigMaps decouple configuration from container images, enabling the same image to run with different settings across environments (dev, staging, production). They store configuration as key-value pairs or entire configuration files. Pods consume ConfigMaps through environment variables, command-line arguments, or mounted volumes. Unlike Secrets (which store sensitive data with base64 encoding), ConfigMaps are for non-sensitive configuration like feature flags, database hostnames, and application settings. ConfigMaps can be updated without redeploying pods when mounted as volumes (with a brief propagation delay). They are namespace-scoped and can be managed declaratively through YAML manifests.