# jetstack/kube-lego

DEPRECATED: Automatically request certificates for Kubernetes Ingress resources from Let's Encrypt

Repository: https://github.com/jetstack/kube-lego
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/kube-lego
Language: Go
License: Apache-2.0
License Family: permissive
Topics: kubernetes, letsencrypt, ingress
Archived: true
Last push: 2021-08-26T15:02:41+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 10/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 0, release rhythm 8, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 3832, "days_push": 1833, "days_rel": null, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 0}
- flags: archived
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 2149, forks 256 (observed 2026-08-28T04:06:19.179755+00:00)

## What it is
kube-lego is a Kubernetes daemon that automatically requests and renews TLS certificates from Let's Encrypt for Ingress resources annotated with kubernetes.io/tls-acme. It handles ACME HTTP-01 challenges and stores certificates in Kubernetes secrets.

## Use cases
- automatically obtain let's encrypt certificates for kubernetes ingress
- auto-renew tls certificates in a kubernetes cluster
- manage acme http-01 challenges for ingress resources
- store letsencrypt certificates as kubernetes secrets
- provision https for services behind nginx or gce ingress controllers

## When to choose
- you are on a legacy kubernetes 1.2+ cluster already using kube-lego and cannot migrate yet

## When to avoid
- starting any new project - the project is deprecated and unmaintained
- you want actively maintained certificate automation - use cert-manager instead
- you need DNS-01 challenges or non-Let's Encrypt ACME providers
- you run modern kubernetes versions

## Facets
- artifact type: service
- maturity: abandoned
- function: security, deployment, configuration-management
- domain: security, cloud-computing, self-hosted
- platform: go, self-hosted
- tags: letsencrypt, tls-certificates, acme, ingress, deprecated, cert-manager-predecessor, devops, kubernetes, docker

## Member repositories
- jetstack/kube-lego (main) score 10

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:06:19.179755+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 2026-08-30T02:50:59.533349+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/jetstack/kube-lego (fetched 2026-08-28T04:06:19.179755+00:00, sha eb72cef51719)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.