# virtual-kubelet/virtual-kubelet

Virtual Kubelet is an open source Kubernetes kubelet implementation.

Repository: https://github.com/virtual-kubelet/virtual-kubelet
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/virtual-kubelet
Homepage: https://virtual-kubelet.io
Language: Go
License: Apache-2.0
License Family: permissive
Topics: kubernetes, cncf
Last push: 2026-08-03T17:59:22+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 87/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 95, release rhythm 68, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 3194, "days_push": 30, "days_rel": 56, "gap_med": 161, "n_releases_24m": 2}
- flags: none
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 4560, forks 663 (observed 2026-08-28T04:08:53.456614+00:00)

## What it is
Virtual Kubelet is an open-source Kubernetes kubelet implementation that masquerades as a kubelet to connect Kubernetes clusters to other APIs, such as serverless container platforms like ACI and AWS Fargate. It is primarily a Go library with a pluggable provider interface for building custom Kubernetes node agents backed by arbitrary services.

## Use cases
- connect kubernetes to serverless container platforms like aci or fargate
- build a custom kubernetes node agent backed by another api
- schedule pods onto external compute without managing vms
- extend the kubernetes api to iot edge or other providers
- implement a pluggable kubelet provider in go
- run kubernetes pods on nomad or other schedulers

## When to choose
- you want kubernetes to schedule pods onto serverless or external compute backends
- you need to build a custom node provider using a well-defined Go interface
- you want a CNCF-backed, widely adopted way to bridge Kubernetes to other APIs

## When to avoid
- you need multi-cluster federation - Virtual Kubelet explicitly is not a federation solution
- you just need a regular kubelet on real VMs or bare metal
- you are not working within the Kubernetes ecosystem

## Facets
- artifact type: library
- maturity: active
- function: container-orchestration, cloud, serverless, sdk, plugin-system
- domain: cloud-computing, infrastructure-as-code, microservices
- platform: go, cloud
- tags: kubelet, kubernetes-nodes, serverless-containers, cncf, pod-lifecycle, provider-interface, containers, devops, kubernetes, docker, linux

## Member repositories
- virtual-kubelet/virtual-kubelet (main) score 87

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:08:53.456614+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 2026-08-29T18:20:00.784317+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/virtual-kubelet/virtual-kubelet (fetched 2026-08-28T04:08:53.456614+00:00, sha 41ae53e84817)
  - homepage: https://virtual-kubelet.io (fetched 2026-08-29T09:05:32.382595+00:00, sha 48d159d94511)
  - site_page: https://virtual-kubelet.io/docs (fetched 2026-08-29T09:05:32.391476+00:00, sha 6baae85ff8f9)
  - site_page: https://virtual-kubelet.io/docs/providers (fetched 2026-08-29T09:05:32.393206+00:00, sha 31ac1f504318)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.