# derailed/k9s

🐶 Kubernetes CLI To Manage Your Clusters In Style!

Repository: https://github.com/derailed/k9s
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/k9s
Homepage: https://k9scli.io
Language: Go
License: Apache-2.0
License Family: permissive
Topics: k9s, kubernetes, kubernetes-cli, kubernetes-clusters, k8s, k8s-cluster, go, golang
Last push: 2026-08-25T08:31:51+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 95/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 99, release rhythm 87, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 2777, "days_push": 8, "days_rel": 88, "gap_med": 3.0, "n_releases_24m": 33}
- flags: none
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 34445, forks 2263 (observed 2026-08-28T04:12:00.595225+00:00)

## What it is
K9s is a terminal-based UI for navigating, observing, and managing Kubernetes clusters in real time. It supports standard resources and CRDs, live metrics, logs, port-forwards, RBAC inspection, and built-in HTTP benchmarking.

## Use cases
- manage kubernetes cluster from terminal
- view pod logs without typing kubectl commands
- watch kubernetes resources in real time
- inspect rbac roles and permissions in a cluster
- port-forward and restart pods quickly
- benchmark http services in kubernetes
- navigate kubernetes crds interactively

## When to choose
- you administer or debug kubernetes clusters daily and want a fast keyboard-driven TUI
- you want live metrics, logs, and resource traversal without memorizing kubectl syntax
- you need RBAC reverse lookup or built-in benchmarking

## When to avoid
- you need fully scripted or CI/CD automation - use kubectl or the Kubernetes API instead
- you prefer a graphical dashboard like Lens or the Kubernetes web UI
- you don't use Kubernetes at all

## Facets
- artifact type: cli-tool
- maturity: active
- function: cli, terminal-ui, monitoring, developer-tools, benchmarking
- domain: developer-tools
- platform: windows, cli, go
- tags: kubernetes, k8s, tui, cluster-management, kubectl-alternative, devops, containers, command-line, linux, macos

## Member repositories
- derailed/k9s (main) score 95

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:12:00.595225+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 2026-08-29T16:27:33.533045+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/derailed/k9s (fetched 2026-08-28T04:12:00.595225+00:00, sha d866e78bd41e)
  - homepage: https://k9scli.io (fetched 2026-08-29T07:48:16.158711+00:00, sha ecb3caa78be8)
  - site_page: https://k9scli.io/topics/install (fetched 2026-08-29T07:48:16.168162+00:00, sha 89859fdb8366)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.