kubetail

Kubetail

Kubetail is a real-time logging dashboard for Kubernetes

Demo: https://www.kubetail.com/demo

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Introduction

Kubetail is a general-purpose logging dashboard for Kubernetes, optimized for tailing logs across multi-container workloads in real-time. With Kubetail, you can view logs from all the containers in a workload (e.g. Deployment or DaemonSet) merged into a single, chronological timeline, delivered to your browser or terminal.

The primary entry point for Kubetail is the kubetail CLI tool, which can launch a local web dashboard on your desktop or stream raw logs directly to your terminal. Behind the scenes, Kubetail uses your cluster's Kubernetes API to fetch logs directly from your cluster, so it works out of the box without needing to forward your logs to an external service. Kubetail also uses your Kubernetes API to track container lifecycle events in order to keep your log timeline in sync as containers start, stop or get replaced. This makes it easy to follow logs seamlessly as user requests move from one ephemeral container to another across services.

Our goal is to build the most powerful, user-friendly logging platform for Kubernetes and we'd love your help. If you notice a bug or have a suggestion please create a GitHub Issue or send us an email ([email protected])!

Features

• Clean, easy-to-use interface
• View log messages in real-time
• Filter logs by:
  • Workload (e.g. Deployment, CronJob, StatefulSet)
  • Absolute or relative time range
  • Node properties (e.g. availability zone, CPU architecture, node ID)
  • Grep
• Uses your Kubernetes API to retrieve log messages so data never leaves your possession (private by default)
• Switch between multiple clusters (Desktop-only)
• Run anywhere: Desktop, Cluster, Docker

Quickstart

Installation

To install kubetail you can use Homebrew:

brew install kubetail

# Krew
kubectl krew install kubetail

# Snap
sudo snap install kubetail

# Winget
winget install kubetail

# Chocolatey
choco install kubetail

# Scoop
scoop install kubetail

# MacPorts
sudo port install kubetail

# Ubuntu/Mint (apt)
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:kubetail/kubetail
sudo apt update && sudo apt install kubetail-cli

# Fedora/CentOS/RHEL/Amazonlinux/Mageia (copr)
dnf copr enable kubetail/kubetail
dnf install kubetail

# SUSE (zypper)
zypper addrepo 'https://download.opensuse.org/repositories/home:/kubetail/$releasever/' kubetail
zypper refresh && zypper install kubetail-cli

# Alpine (apk)
apk add kubetail --repository=https://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/edge/testing

# Arch Linux (AUR)
yay -S --noconfirm kubetail-cli

# Gentoo (GURU)
ACCEPT_KEYWORDS="~$(portageq envvar ARCH)" emerge dev-util/kubetail

# Nix (Flake)
nix profile add github:kubetail-org/kubetail-nix

# Nix (Classic)
nix-env -i -f https://github.com/kubetail-org/kubetail-nix/archive/refs/heads/main.tar.gz

# asdf
asdf plugin add kubetail https://github.com/kubetail-org/asdf-kubetail.git
asdf install kubetail latest

If you prefer, you can also download it from the release binaries or use our install script:

curl -sS https://www.kubetail.com/install.sh | bash

Usage

Here are some ways to use kubetail:

1. Start the web dashboard (GUI)

kubetail serve

2. View logs in your terminal

kubetail logs -f deployments/my-app

3. Enable advanced features (by installing Kubetail API)

kubetail cluster install

4. Initialize a local config file

kubetail config init

See the documentation for a full list of commands. Have fun tailing your logs!

Run Anywhere

In addition to running Kubetail on your desktop you can also run it in these environments:

• Cluster
• Docker
• Minikube

Documentation

Visit our full documentation at https://www.kubetail.com

Roadmap and Status

This is our high-level plan for the Kubetail project, in order:

	Step	Status
1	Real-time container logs	✅
2	Real-time search and polished user experience	🛠️
3	Real-time system logs (e.g. systemd, k8s events)	🔲
4	Basic customizability (e.g. colors, time formats)	🔲
5	Message parsing and metrics	🔲
6	Historic data (e.g. log archives, metrics timeseries)	🔲
7	Kubetail API and developer-facing client libraries	🔲
N	World Peace	🔲

And here are some additional details:

Real-time container logs

Users can view the container logs from the pods currently running inside their clusters quickly and easily using a web dashboard. Users can view container logs organized by workloads and follow log messages as ephemeral containers get created and deleted. They can also narrow their viewing window by timestamp and filter logs by source properties such as region, zone and node.

Real-time search and polished user experience

Users can install Kubetail easily on their desktops and in their clusters. By default, Kubetail will use only the Kubernetes API to fetch basic data such as running workloads and container logs. If a user wants more advanced functionality they can install Kubetail custom services in their cluster (i.e. "Kubetail Cluster API" and "Kubetail Cluster Agent", collectively known as the "Kubetail API") and gain access to features such as log search, log file sizes and last event timestamps. The entire experience of installing, upgrading and uninstalling the Kubetail API is very polished and users are able to view their logs with equally powerful tools in the browser and the terminal using the Kubetail web dashboard and CLI tool.

Real-time system logs

Users who install the Kubetail API gain immediate access to their node-level logs (e.g. systemd) and cluster-level logs (e.g. kubernetes events) and view them in an integrated interface that shows their container logs in context with other system information such as CPU utilization, memory usage and disk space. System logs are viewable in real-time, in the same merged timeline with other logs. Users can filter system logs by timestamp and source properties.

Basic customizability

Users can fully customize their Kubetail experience when using the web dashboard and CLI tool by modifying their user settings. The user settings are modifiable by hand using a config file or via the dashboard UI. The experience is very polished and works seamlessly across upgrades that may add/remove/modify user settings. Users have the option to sync their settings across multiple devices.

Development

Repository Structure

This monorepo contains the following modules:

• Kubetail CLI (modules/cli)
• Kubetail Cluster API (modules/cluster-api)
• Kubetail Cluster Agent (crates/cluster_agent)
• Kubetail Dashboard (modules/dashboard)

It also contains the source code for the Kubetail Dashboard's frontend:

• Dashboard UI (dashboard-ui)

Setting up the Development Environment

Dependencies

• Go
• pnpm
• Tilt
• Tilt-compatible cluster (e.g. minikube, kind, docker-desktop)
• ctlptl (optional)

Next steps

1. Create a Tilt-compatible Kubernetes Dev Cluster:

# minikube
ctlptl apply -f hack/ctlptl/minikube.yaml

# kind
ctlptl apply -f hack/ctlptl/kind.yaml

# docker-desktop
ctlptl apply -f hack/ctlptl/docker-desktop.yaml

2. Start the dev environment:

tilt up

3. Start the Dashboard server:

cd modules/dashboard
go run cmd/main.go -c hack/config.yaml

4. Run the Dashboard UI locally:

cd dashboard-ui
pnpm install
pnpm dev

Now access the dashboard at http://localhost:5173.

By default, the dev environment uses a pre-built image for the Rust-based cluster-agent. If you're working on the Rust code, you can use the KUBETAIL_RUST_DEV_MODE environment variable to enable a development mode that compiles the Rust code and syncs the binary into the cluster. There are two modes available:

Mode	Description
docker	Compiles the Rust code inside a Docker container. No local Rust toolchain required.
local	Compiles the Rust code on your machine using cross-compilation. Faster rebuilds but requires local setup.

Docker mode

To use Docker mode, run Tilt with the KUBETAIL_RUST_DEV_MODE env variable set to docker:

KUBETAIL_RUST_DEV_MODE=docker tilt up

Local mode

Local mode requires additional dependencies and setup but offers faster rebuild times.

Dependencies

• rustup
• protobuf

Setup

First, install the Rust target required for your architecture:

# x86_64
rustup target add x86_64-unknown-linux-musl

# aarch64
rustup target add aarch64-unknown-linux-musl

Next, install the tools required by Rust cross compiler:

# macOS (Homebrew)
brew install FiloSottile/musl-cross/musl-cross

# Linux (Ubuntu)
apt-get install musl-tools

On macOS, add this to your ~/.cargo/config.toml file:

[target.x86_64-unknown-linux-musl]
linker = "x86_64-linux-musl-gcc"

[target.aarch64-unknown-linux-musl]
linker = "aarch64-linux-musl-gcc"

Finally, run Tilt with the KUBETAIL_RUST_DEV_MODE env variable set to local:

KUBETAIL_RUST_DEV_MODE=local tilt up

Build

CLI Tool

To build the Kubetail CLI tool executable (kubetail), run the following command:

make

When the build process finishes you can find the executable in the local bin/ directory.

Dashboard

To build a docker image for a production deployment of the Kubetail Dashboard server, run the following command:

docker build -f build/package/Dockerfile.dashboard -t kubetail-dashboard:latest .

Cluster API

To build a docker image for a production deployment of the Kubetail Cluster API server, run the following command:

docker build -f build/package/Dockerfile.cluster-api -t kubetail-cluster-api:latest .

Cluster Agent

To build a docker image for a production deployment of the Kubetail Cluster Agent, run the following command:

docker build -f build/package/Dockerfile.cluster-agent -t kubetail-cluster-agent:latest .

Get Involved

We're building the most user-friendly, cost-effective, and secure logging platform for Kubernetes and we'd love your contributions! Here's how you can help:

• UI/UX design
• React frontend development
• Reporting issues and suggesting features

Reach us at [email protected], or join our Discord server or Slack channel.