NOTICE: We have recently moved the project under the Kubernetes SIG UI (and the repo under the kubernetes-sigs org). Container images are still at ghcr.io. Please bear with us while we may experience some broken links.
Headlamp is an easy-to-use and extensible Kubernetes web UI.
Headlamp was created to blend the traditional feature set of other web UIs/dashboards (i.e., to list and view resources) with added functionality.
- Vendor-independent / generic Kubernetes UI
- Works in-cluster, or locally as a desktop app
- Multi-cluster
- Extensible through plugins
- UI controls reflecting user roles (no deletion/update if not allowed)
- Clean & modern UI
- Cancellable creation/update/deletion operations
- Logs, exec, and resource editor with documentation
- Read-write / interactive (actions based on permissions)
- Integrated cluster shell for running kubectl and other commands directly from the UI
- Multiple built-in UI themes with a modern Apple-inspired design system
Headlamp includes a built-in terminal that lets you run commands directly against your Kubernetes clusters without leaving the UI.
- Click the shell icon in the top action bar (visible when a cluster is selected)
- A persistent shell session opens in a dialog (PowerShell on Windows, /bin/sh on Linux/macOS)
KUBECONFIGis automatically configured for the selected cluster- Shell state (variables, working directory) persists across commands
- Run
kubectl,helm,az, or any CLI tool available on the host
Headlamp ships with several built-in themes selectable from Settings General Theme:
| Theme | Style |
|---|---|
| Bloomberg Terminal | Pure-black background, orange accent, monospace font dense data-terminal aesthetic |
| TradingView | Dark navy palette, blue accent, clean modern market-data style |
| Azure Portal | Microsoft Fluent Design #0078d4 blue, Segoe UI, dark sidebar |
| Azure Portal Dark | Dark variant of the Azure Portal theme |
| Light / Dark | Classic Headlamp themes |
All themes support an Apple-inspired component design system (designLanguage: 'cupertino') that
brings rounded cards with subtle elevation, pill-shaped buttons, smooth hover transitions,
and consistent border treatments similar to macOS/iOS app aesthetics.
Custom themes can be contributed via the plugin system.
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If you want to deploy Headlamp in your cluster, check out the instructions on running it in-cluster.
If you have a kubeconfig already, you can quickly try Headlamp locally as a desktop application for Linux, Mac, or Windows. Make sure you have a kubeconfig file set up with your favorite clusters and in the default path so Headlamp can use it.
Headlamp uses RBAC for checking users' access to resources. If you try Headlamp with a token that has very limited permissions, you may not be able to view your cluster resources correctly.
See the documentation on how to easily get a Service Account token for your cluster.
Want to hack on Headlamp? We'd love your help!
Check out the Contributing Guidelines for detailed instructions on setting up your local development environment, building the project, and platform-specific tips (including Apple Silicon and macOS).
For more in-depth development docs, see the Development Guide.
We maintain a list of the Kubernetes platforms we have tested Headlamp with. We invite you to add any missing platforms you have tested, or comment if there are any regressions in the existing ones.
Please see headlamp plugins on Artifact Hub for a list of plugins published.
See the plugins repo for some official plugins.
If you are interested in tweaking Headlamp to fit your use-cases, you can check out our plugin development guide.
Check out our:
- Guidelines
- Code of Conduct,
- #headlamp slack channel in the Kubernetes Slack
- Monthly Community Meeting
If you are interested in the direction of the project, we maintain a Roadmap. It has the biggest changes planned so far, as well as a board tracking each release.
Headlamp is released under the terms of the Apache 2.0 license.
For more information about Headlamp, see the Headlamp FAQ.