microsoft/retina
eBPF distributed networking observability tool for Kubernetes observed · 2026-08-28
Health v2 · maintenance only
92/100
- Activity 99
- Release rhythm 98
- Longevity 68
How is this computed?
round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10) — computed 2026-09-03. Adoption (stars, forks) is never an input.
- gap_med: 12.0
- age_days: 954
- days_rel: 12
- days_push: 7
- n_releases_24m: 37
Adoption not part of the score
3166 stars · 303 forks observed · 2026-08-28
What it is AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, 2026-08-30, confidence not recorded
Retina is an open-source, eBPF-based Kubernetes network observability platform that collects customizable telemetry, Prometheus metrics, and distributed packet captures. It is cloud- and CNI-agnostic, exporting data to Prometheus, Azure Monitor, Grafana, and other backends.
Use cases
- debug pod-to-pod network connectivity issues in kubernetes
- monitor cluster network health with prometheus metrics
- run distributed packet captures across nodes for troubleshooting
- get network flow logs and DNS insights via hubble integration
- monitor network security and compliance in kubernetes clusters
- troubleshoot why pods cannot connect to each other
When to choose
- you need eBPF-based network observability for Kubernetes across Linux and Windows nodes
- you want cloud- and CNI-agnostic monitoring that works on any Kubernetes distribution
- you need on-demand distributed packet captures without manually running tcpdump on nodes
- you want Prometheus metrics exported to Grafana or Azure Monitor
When to avoid
- you run high-core-count nodes (32+ cores) under heavy load with advanced metrics, given reported performance limitations
- you still rely on Windows Server 2019 nodes, which are no longer supported
- you need a general-purpose host-level eBPF observability tool outside Kubernetes
Facets
application · maturity active
monitoring tracing networking cli networking monitoring windows go self-hosted cloud ebpf network-observability packet-capture prometheus-metrics hubble cni-agnostic helm kubernetes devops containers linux docker
3 sources
- readme: https://github.com/microsoft/retina · fetched 2026-08-28 · 55ad5aedb51c
- homepage: https://retina.sh · fetched 2026-08-29 · 3630eca107bc
- site_page: https://retina.sh/docs/Introduction/intro · fetched 2026-08-29 · 1e5d562721e4
Member repositories
| Repository | Role | Health v2 |
|---|---|---|
| microsoft/retina | main | 92 |
For agents
markdown · JSON · MCP: product_card(name="microsoft/retina")
Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00 · Report a problem