Kubyl is free for everyone, companies included. It covers what k9s and the Kubernetes Dashboard
do, plus selected OpenShift console features, in a fast, keyboard-first native window.
Features
- Command palette (
⌘K / Ctrl+K) with prefixes for resources, contexts, namespaces,
actions, favorites and filters. Keymaps for the default layout and for k9s users.
- Live resource tables backed by watches, fast with 5,000+ pods. Favorites, split panes,
owner chains and a details panel for every kind, custom resources included.
- YAML editor with schema validation against the cluster's OpenAPI spec, diff and apply.
- Logs, shell and port-forwarding, plus web views that open a Service in the app over a
temporary port-forward.
- Pod file browser with drag and drop uploads and downloads.
- Cluster overview with Prometheus or metrics-server metrics, CPU and memory sparklines and
events.
- Argo CD: applications, ApplicationSets, projects, resource trees, sync, history, rollback.
- Operators (OLM v0 and v1) and Helm releases: OperatorHub, installs, upgrades, values and
manifests.
- Cluster updates for OpenShift, EKS, GKE, AKS, k3s and self-managed clusters, with
pre-flight checks.
- Alerts: Alertmanager alerts, silences and alerting rules.
- Network flows from Cilium/Hubble, NetObserv and Calico/Whisker, as a table and a
topology graph.
- Kubeconfig editor for clusters, credentials and contexts, with a connection test. Merges
multiple kubeconfigs and supports OIDC sign-in and exec plugins (EKS, GKE, …).
- Secrets stay safe: tokens live in the OS keychain and are never logged or written to
settings.
Kubyl Mobile
Your clusters, in your pocket. Kubyl Mobile is the iOS and Android companion: check pods,
read and follow logs, watch alerts and Argo CD, browse Helm releases and operators, and make
careful changes from your phone, without a VPN profile for every cluster. It looks like the
desktop app.
- Careful by design. Every change shows what would happen first. Production clusters ask
for the cluster's name, sensitive actions ask for Face ID or your passcode, and read-only
clusters stay read-only because the server enforces it.
- Live. Cluster overview with CPU and memory, resource tables, pod details, events, logs,
a terminal and read-only PromQL.
- Pairs with a QR code. The app talks to a Kubyl Server that runs on a machine you control
next to your clusters, over gRPC with certificate pinning. The desktop app doesn't need it.
The app is free in the stores (Google Play now, App Store coming soon). The Kubyl Server is a
subscription that covers your paired devices. See kubyl.dev/mobile,
the mobile docs and the
server install guide.
The desktop app points to it once, with a dismissible card on the Welcome tab, and under
Help → Kubyl Mobile.
Install
Kubyl is available through Homebrew, winget, apt, dnf and pacman, or as a direct download for
macOS, Windows and Linux. Every release ships SHA256SUMS. See
kubyl.dev/docs/installation for the commands, or grab a
build from kubyl.dev/download or the
releases page.
Usage, settings and keyboard shortcuts are documented at kubyl.dev/docs.
Build from source
You need Rust 1.98 or newer (rust-toolchain.toml pins it for rustup).
git clone https://github.com/BirknerAlex/kubyl
cd kubyl
cargo run --release -p kubyl
On Linux, install the system libraries first (Debian/Ubuntu names, as in CI):
sudo apt-get install -y pkg-config clang \
libwayland-dev libxkbcommon-dev libxkbcommon-x11-dev \
libx11-dev libx11-xcb-dev libxcb1-dev libxi-dev libxrandr-dev \
libfontconfig1-dev libfreetype-dev \
libvulkan-dev libasound2-dev libzstd-dev libssl-dev \
libwebkit2gtk-4.1-dev libgtk-3-dev
The cloud update providers are off by default; enable them with
--features updates-eks,updates-gke,updates-aks.
Development
cargo fmt --all
cargo clippy --workspace --all-targets -- -D warnings
cargo test --workspace
cargo deny check
Dev builds on macOS aren't signed with the provisioning profile the data protection keychain
needs, so they trigger keychain prompts. Use a different credential store while developing:
KUBYL_CREDENTIAL_STORE=file cargo run -p kubyl # plain text on disk, dev only
KUBYL_CREDENTIAL_STORE=memory cargo run -p kubyl # forgotten when the app quits
If you use Zed, .zed/tasks.json has a task for this:
// Zed run configurations for this project.
// See: https://zed.dev/docs/tasks
[
{
"label": "Run kubyl (file credential store, dev only)",
"command": "cargo run -p kubyl",
"env": {
"KUBYL_CREDENTIAL_STORE": "file"
},
"use_new_terminal": false,
"allow_concurrent_runs": false,
"reveal": "always"
}
]
script/ has helpers that start local kind clusters with sample
workloads, Prometheus, Alertmanager, Argo CD, OLM, OIDC and network flow backends. Point
KUBECONFIG at a scratch file so your ~/.kube/config stays untouched. See
AGENTS.md for the full list, screenshot tooling and known gotchas.
Project layout
The app is a Cargo workspace. crates/kubyl is the binary and app shell; every feature lives in
its own crate (kubyl_explorer, kubyl_yaml, kubyl_logs, kubyl_argocd, kubyl_netflow, …)
and plugs in through the registries in kubyl_core. plans/README.md
describes the architecture, the conventions and which crate owns what.
Contributing
Contributions are more than welcome! Bug reports, feature ideas, docs, screenshots of
clusters we don't test on, and pull requests all help.
- Found a bug or have an idea? Open an issue.
- Want to write code? Pick an issue (or open one to discuss a bigger change first), read
plans/README.md and AGENTS.md, and send a pull request.
- Keep commits small and logical. CI runs rustfmt, clippy, tests on macOS, Windows and Linux,
and
cargo deny; please make sure it passes.
- A few hard rules: no network or blocking calls on the UI thread, never log or persist tokens
or Secret data, and no GPL crates from Zed (
editor, workspace, terminal_view, …).
- New UI should match the mockups
(source:
design/mockups/generate.py).
Before your first pull request is merged, you sign the
Contributor License Agreement once, on kubyl.dev with your GitHub
account; the CLA check on your pull request links there. You keep the copyright in your work;
the CLA grants the license the project needs to ship it. Contributions are licensed as below
and under the CLA.
Sponsoring
Kubyl is free, and every feature stays free for everyone. If it saves you time, please consider
sponsoring on GitHub. Sponsorships pay for the Apple
Developer Program (notarization), Windows code signing, the domain and hosting; anything above
that buys development time.
Any amount helps. More on kubyl.dev/sponsor.
License
Licensed under either of
at your option.
Built by Alexander Birkner.
