# iovisor/kubectl-trace

Schedule bpftrace programs on your kubernetes cluster using the kubectl

Repository: https://github.com/iovisor/kubectl-trace
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/kubectl-trace
Language: Go
License: MIT
License Family: permissive
Topics: kubectl, kubernetes-cluster, kubectl-trace, bpf, bpftrace, kubectl-plugins, kubectl-plugin, trace, ebpf, ebpf-programs, tracepoints
Last push: 2026-04-16T20:47:34+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 57/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 77, release rhythm 8, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 2842, "days_push": 139, "days_rel": null, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 0}
- flags: none
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 2186, forks 176 (observed 2026-08-28T04:06:23.677246+00:00)

## What it is
kubectl-trace is a kubectl plugin that schedules the execution of bpftrace programs on nodes and pods in a Kubernetes cluster. It packages eBPF-based tracing into a familiar kubectl workflow, installable via Krew or pre-built binaries.

## Use cases
- run bpftrace programs on kubernetes nodes
- trace syscalls in a kubernetes pod
- debug kernel-level performance issues in a cluster
- attach eBPF tracepoints to workloads
- profile a pod's kernel activity from kubectl
- install kubectl tracing plugin via krew

## When to choose
- you need eBPF/bpftrace tracing inside Kubernetes without manually building images
- you want to trace a specific pod or node from the kubectl CLI
- you are debugging kernel-level issues in cluster workloads

## When to avoid
- your cluster disallows privileged pods or PSP bypass
- you need userspace-only application tracing rather than kernel tracing
- you are not running Kubernetes

## Facets
- artifact type: cli-tool
- maturity: active
- function: tracing, cli, monitoring, developer-tools
- domain: developer-tools, monitoring
- platform: windows, cli, go
- tags: kubectl-plugin, bpftrace, ebpf, kubernetes, observability, tracepoints, krew, containers, devops, linux, macos

## Member repositories
- iovisor/kubectl-trace (main) score 57

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:06:23.677246+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 2026-08-30T02:47:54.547547+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/iovisor/kubectl-trace (fetched 2026-08-28T04:06:23.677246+00:00, sha 6125e7bed5ba)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.