Tools that live around Kubernetes.

Define, install, and upgrade Kubernetes applications using charts — templated YAML packages with versioned releases. The closest thing to apt for Kubernetes.

brew install helm

Layer YAML patches on top of a base manifest to produce environment-specific variants — without templates. Built into kubectl since 1.14 as kubectl apply -k.

brew install kustomize

A blazing-fast TUI that lets you observe and manage Kubernetes clusters from the keyboard. Pod logs, exec, scale, port-forward — all without typing kubectl.

brew install k9s

Tails logs from multiple Pods and containers at once with colored output. Indispensable for debugging multi-replica or multi-container workloads.

brew install stern

Tiny utilities that let you change cluster context and namespace in one short command — kubectx prod, kubens monitoring. Pairs well with fzf for fuzzy selection.

brew install kubectx

Discover, install, and manage kubectl plugins from a curated index of 200+ tools. Adds commands like kubectl tree, kubectl neat, kubectl who-can.

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Run a local Kubernetes cluster on your laptop using a VM, container, or bare metal. Great for tutorials, demos, and learning the API.

brew install minikube

Spins up Kubernetes clusters inside Docker containers — ideal for CI pipelines and for testing the multi-node behaviors that minikube avoids.

brew install kind

A fully-compliant Kubernetes distribution under 60 MB designed for IoT, edge, and CI. Single binary, batteries-included.

curl -sfL https://get.k3s.io | sh -

Continuously reconciles cluster state against manifests stored in Git. Provides a slick UI for inspecting application sync status and rolling back.

kubectl create namespace argocd && kubectl apply -n argocd -f https://raw.githubusercontent.com/argoproj/argo-cd/stable/manifests/install.yaml

A set of controllers that keep your clusters in sync with Git-stored configuration. Modular, CRD-driven, with first-class support for Kustomize and Helm.

brew install fluxcd/tap/flux

The de-facto metrics stack for Kubernetes. Scrapes metrics endpoints across the cluster, stores them, and serves PromQL queries.

helm install prometheus prometheus-community/kube-prometheus-stack

Visualize Prometheus, Loki, and other backends in shareable dashboards. The standard observability frontend for Kubernetes clusters.

helm install grafana grafana/grafana

A CNI plugin built on eBPF that handles networking, observability, and network policy at kernel speed. Powers Hubble — a service-map and flow observer for the cluster.

cilium install

Brings Open Policy Agent to Kubernetes as an admission controller. Enforce custom policies (no privileged Pods, required labels, image registry allowlist) in Rego.

helm install gatekeeper/gatekeeper --name-template=gatekeeper -n gatekeeper-system --create-namespace

Watches your source, rebuilds images, updates Kubernetes manifests, and tails logs — all from a single Tiltfile. Built for inner-loop dev on Kubernetes.

brew install tilt-dev/tap/tilt

A cross-platform desktop app for managing Kubernetes clusters. Provides cluster overview, terminals, Helm management, and Prometheus integration in one window.

brew install --cask lens