# txn2/kubefwd

Bulk port forwarding Kubernetes services for local development.

Repository: https://github.com/txn2/kubefwd
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/kubefwd
Homepage: http://kubefwd.com/
Language: Go
License: Apache-2.0
License Family: permissive
Topics: kubernetes, devtools, developer-tools, networking, port-forwarding, port-forward, k8s, kubernetes-namespace, devops-tools, devops, proxy, kubefwd, kubernetes-clusters, api-rest, mcp-server
Last push: 2026-08-21T18:39:34+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 95/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 98, release rhythm 89, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 2950, "days_push": 12, "days_rel": 75, "gap_med": 1.0, "n_releases_24m": 21}
- flags: none
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 4164, forks 234 (observed 2026-08-28T04:08:37.841181+00:00)

## What it is
kubefwd is a Go CLI utility that bulk port-forwards Kubernetes services to a local workstation, assigning each service a unique 127.x.x.x loopback IP and updating /etc/hosts so in-cluster connection strings work unchanged. It offers an interactive TUI, a REST API, and an MCP server, with auto-reconnect, multi-namespace and multi-cluster support.

## Use cases
- forward all services in a Kubernetes namespace to my laptop for local development
- access cluster services by their in-cluster hostnames like db:5432 without changing config
- avoid port conflicts when forwarding many services that use the same port
- keep local development connections alive across pod restarts and rescheduling
- script or automate port forwarding via a REST API
- let an AI assistant manage Kubernetes port forwards through MCP

## When to choose
- you develop locally against services running in a Kubernetes dev cluster
- you need many services forwarded simultaneously without port conflicts
- you want zero environment-specific connection configuration in your code
- you need automatic reconnection as pods churn
- you want TUI, API, or AI-assistant-driven control of forwards

## When to avoid
- you only need to forward a single pod or service occasionally (kubectl port-forward suffices)
- you cannot run with sudo/admin privileges on your workstation
- you need to expose local services into the cluster rather than the reverse
- you are on a network where modifying /etc/hosts or loopback interfaces is restricted

## Facets
- artifact type: cli-tool
- maturity: active
- function: networking, proxy, developer-tools, cli, terminal-ui, http-server, mcp
- domain: developer-tools, cloud-computing, networking
- platform: windows, cli, go
- tags: kubernetes, port-forwarding, local-development, k8s, bulk-forwarding, etc-hosts, tui, rest-api, mcp-server, multi-cluster, devops, containers, command-line, macos, linux, docker

## Member repositories
- txn2/kubefwd (main) score 95

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:08:37.841181+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 2026-08-29T18:22:47.698347+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/txn2/kubefwd (fetched 2026-08-28T04:08:37.841181+00:00, sha 539330b23982)
  - homepage: http://kubefwd.com/ (fetched 2026-08-29T09:13:29.427408+00:00, sha 43fda0ee6562)
  - site_page: https://kubefwd.com/getting-started (fetched 2026-08-29T09:13:29.433069+00:00, sha afa83aac3a20)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.