# vitobotta/hetzner-k3s

The easiest and fastest way to create production-ready Kubernetes clusters on Hetzner Cloud

Repository: https://github.com/vitobotta/hetzner-k3s
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/hetzner-k3s
Homepage: https://hetzner-k3s.com/
Language: Crystal
License: MIT
License Family: permissive
Topics: kubernetes, k8s, devops, hetzner, hetzner-cloud, hetzner-api, docker, k3s, crystal, crystal-lang, crystal-language
Last push: 2026-08-25T13:00:37+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 96/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-02T17:46:02.011165+00:00)
- activity 99, release rhythm 90, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 1852, "days_push": 8, "days_rel": 70, "gap_med": 12, "n_releases_24m": 34}
- flags: none
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 3667, forks 231 (observed 2026-08-28T04:08:13.432018+00:00)

## What it is
hetzner-k3s is a CLI tool written in Crystal that creates production-ready Kubernetes (k3s) clusters on Hetzner Cloud from a single YAML config file. It provisions masters, workers, networking, firewalls, and essential components like the CSI driver and cluster autoscaler in minutes without Terraform or a management cluster.

## Use cases
- create a production kubernetes cluster on hetzner cloud
- spin up an ha k3s cluster in minutes
- provision kubernetes without terraform
- set up a cluster autoscaler on hetzner
- deploy a large kubernetes cluster with many worker nodes
- manage k3s cluster config as a yaml file
- reduce kubernetes hosting costs compared to managed k8s

## When to choose
- you use Hetzner Cloud and want fast, repeatable k3s cluster provisioning
- you want a simple single-binary tool with one YAML config instead of Terraform/Ansible
- you need HA masters, autoscaling, and CSI/cloud controller installed out of the box
- you want credentials to stay local with no third-party service involved

## When to avoid
- you run on AWS, GCP, Azure, or other cloud providers
- you need a managed control plane with SLAs and vendor support
- you already have a Terraform-based infrastructure workflow you must integrate with
- you need Kubernetes distributions with features beyond what k3s provides

## Facets
- artifact type: cli-tool
- maturity: active
- function: deployment, infrastructure-as-code, container-orchestration, cli
- domain: cloud-computing, infrastructure-as-code, self-hosted
- platform: windows, cli, cross-platform
- tags: kubernetes, k3s, hetzner-cloud, cluster-provisioning, crystal, autoscaling, high-availability, devops, containers, linux, macos

## Member repositories
- vitobotta/hetzner-k3s (main) score 96

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:08:13.432018+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-29T18:31:32.162554+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/vitobotta/hetzner-k3s (fetched 2026-08-28T04:08:13.432018+00:00, sha a6477484760c)
  - homepage: https://hetzner-k3s.com/ (fetched 2026-08-29T09:25:29.966243+00:00, sha 7ad949e426b0)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.