Podscape 🚀

The Simplest Way to Work with Kubernetes

Download · Docs · Issues

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The Problem

Kubernetes workflows are fragmented:

• Logs → kubectl / external tools
• Metrics → Prometheus / Grafana
• YAML → kubectl apply
• Debugging → manual chaos

This slows you down when it matters most.

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The Solution

Podscape brings everything into one place:

• 🔍 Real-time cluster state — via Kubernetes informers, not polling
• 📜 Logs, events, and resources in one UI
• ⚙️ Helm + workload management — list, inspect, upgrade, rollback
• 🤖 AI-assisted exploration — MCP server for Claude, Cursor, and more

Less context switching. Faster debugging.

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Why Podscape?

• No account required — works with your existing kubeconfig, nothing else
• Real-time via informers — not polling; state updates the moment Kubernetes does
• Everything in one window — logs, Helm, exec, metrics, security, network map
• AI-ready — MCP server lets Claude and Cursor talk directly to your cluster
• Open source — Apache 2.0, no telemetry, no subscription

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Screenshots

Debug Launcher	Restart Analyzer
One-click ephemeral debug tools	Automated CrashLoop diagnosis

Network Map	Onboarding
Visual traffic flow intelligence	Sleek glassmorphism UX

Terminal	Unified Log Streaming
Built-in PTY terminal	Real-time multi-pod log streaming

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Quick Start

1. Download

Grab the latest release for your platform:

Platform	Format
macOS (Apple Silicon + Intel)	Universal DMG
Windows	NSIS installer
Linux	AppImage, .deb

👉 Download Latest Release

macOS note: The app is signed and notarized. If macOS blocks it on first launch, right-click → Open.

2. Connect your cluster

Uses your existing kubeconfig — no extra setup required.

3. Start exploring

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Features

• Command Palette (⌘K) — instant access to any section or resource via fuzzy search; jump between clusters and namespaces from the keyboard
• Multi-cluster support — switch contexts and namespaces instantly; RBAC-aware startup skips resources the current user cannot access
• Full resource coverage — pods, deployments, statefulsets, daemonsets, jobs, cronjobs, HPAs, PDBs, services, ingresses, network policies, configmaps, secrets, RBAC, storage, and more
• Log streaming — real-time log tailing with multi-container support and search
• Exec into containers — full PTY terminal sessions directly in the app
• Port forwarding — one-click port-forward with live status, auto port detection, and clickable local URLs
• Helm management — list releases, inspect values, view history, rollback, and direct upgrades with automated update detection
• Connectivity Tester — source-to-target network diagnostics (DNS, TCP, HTTP) with automated NetworkPolicy and endpoint failure analysis
• Production Context Protection — visual banners and frame indicators when connected to sensitive clusters
• CRD Browser — explorer and editor for any Custom Resource Definition installed in the cluster
• Network topology — force-directed graph of pod-to-service relationships
• Security scan — per-pod security posture analysis (privileged containers, missing resource limits, host namespace access)
• TLS dashboard — cluster-wide certificate inventory with expiry tracking
• GitOps panel — Argo CD / Flux resource overview
• Kubectl Plugins — install and run curated Krew plugins (neat, stern, tree, images, whoami, df-pv, outdated) without leaving the app
• Service mesh support — Istio, Traefik v2/v3, NGINX Inc, NGINX Community — auto-detected per cluster
• Events & metrics — filterable event list and pod/node metrics (requires metrics-server)
• Built-in terminal — tabbed PTY terminal with kubectl pre-configured
• MCP server — expose your cluster as tools for AI assistants via podscape-mcp
• Auto-updater — background update downloads and one-click installation for macOS and Windows

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Who is this for?

• DevOps Engineers
• Platform Engineers
• Kubernetes users tired of tool fragmentation

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Status

Podscape is in early stage. We are actively:

• Improving debugging workflows
• Simplifying UX
• Exploring AI integrations

👉 Expect bugs. Expect rapid changes. We're building in public.

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MCP Server

podscape-mcp is a standalone binary that exposes your Kubernetes cluster as tools for AI assistants (Claude, Cursor, Copilot, etc.). It ships as a pre-built binary for macOS, Windows, and Linux alongside the app on every GitHub Release.

# Register with Claude Code (using a pre-built binary)
claude mcp add --transport stdio podscape -- /path/to/podscape-mcp-darwin-arm64

# Or build from source
cd go-core && go build ./cmd/podscape-mcp/
claude mcp add --transport stdio podscape -- ./go-core/podscape-mcp

See go-core/cmd/podscape-mcp/README.md for full setup and tool reference.

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Building from Source

Prerequisites: Node.js 20+, Go 1.22+

# Clone and install dependencies
git clone https://github.com/codingprotocols/podscape.git
cd podscape-electron
npm install

# Build the Go sidecar (required before first run)
cd go-core && go build ./cmd/podscape-core/ && cd ..

# Start in dev mode (hot reload)
npm run dev

npm run build          # Build all processes
npm run test           # Run frontend tests (vitest)
cd go-core && go test ./...          # Run Go tests
cd go-core && go build ./cmd/podscape-mcp/   # Build the MCP server binary

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Architecture

Podscape is a three-process Electron app with a Go sidecar:

Renderer (React/TS)
  ├─ HTTP → Go Sidecar (127.0.0.1:5050)   — all k8s + Helm operations
  └─ IPC  → Main Process (Node.js)         — terminal, file dialogs, port-forward, log streaming

Layer	Stack
Renderer	React 18, TypeScript, Tailwind CSS, Zustand, xterm.js, Monaco Editor
Main process	Electron, node-pty
Go sidecar	podscape-core — HTTP server, shared informer cache, RBAC probe
MCP server	podscape-mcp — standalone MCP server

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Project Structure

podscape-electron/
├── src/
│   ├── main/          # Electron main process (sidecar, IPC handlers, terminal)
│   ├── preload/       # Context bridge — exposes window.kubectl, window.helm, etc.
│   └── renderer/      # React app (components, store, types, hooks, utils, config)
├── docs/              # Feature guides and documentation
├── go-core/
│   ├── cmd/
│   │   ├── podscape-core/   # HTTP sidecar binary
│   │   └── podscape-mcp/    # MCP server binary
│   └── internal/
│       ├── client/          # Shared k8s client initialisation
│       ├── handlers/        # HTTP route handlers
│       ├── informers/       # Shared informer cache
│       ├── k8sutil/         # Canonical GVR mappings and version fallbacks
│       ├── ops/             # Write operations (scale, delete, apply, rollout)
│       ├── exec/            # WebSocket container exec (PTY)
│       ├── logs/            # WebSocket log streaming
│       ├── helm/            # Helm SDK wrapper
│       ├── rbac/            # RBAC probe
│       ├── portforward/     # Port-forward manager
│       ├── prometheus/      # Prometheus auto-discovery and query cache
│       ├── ownerchain/      # Owner reference traversal
│       ├── providers/       # Service mesh / ingress provider detection
│       ├── graph/           # Resource dependency graph engine
│       └── topology/        # Graph post-processing
├── resources/         # Icons, splash screen
└── CHANGELOG.md

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Feedback

We're looking for early users. Your feedback will directly shape the product.

👉 Open an issue or start a discussion

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Contributing

Contributions are welcome. Please read CONTRIBUTING.md before opening a pull request.

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License

Apache License 2.0 — see LICENSE for details.

© 2026 Coding Protocols Private Limited