Radar provides modern, local-first visibility for Kubernetes clusters, addressing the need for a fast, agentless, and dependency-free tool for cluster inspection and management. It targets Kubernetes operators, developers, and power users who require immediate insights without complex cluster-side installations or cloud dependencies. The primary benefit is a unified, high-performance interface for topology, events, traffic, resource browsing, and GitOps monitoring, accessible via a single binary.

How It Works

Radar operates on a local-first, zero-install principle, running directly on the user's machine and interacting with the Kubernetes API. It employs smart caching, progressive loading, and parallelization for high performance. Real-time cluster state is monitored via Kubernetes informers, with updates pushed to the browser using Server-Sent Events (SSE). Its architecture avoids agents, CRDs, or external network calls, making it suitable for air-gapped environments. An optional in-cluster deployment is available for shared team access.

Quick Start & Requirements

• Primary Install: curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/skyhook-io/radar/main/install.sh | bash && kubectl radar
• Prerequisites: A running Kubernetes cluster and kubectl access. No specific hardware, GPU, or advanced software dependencies are listed beyond standard OS and kubectl.
• Links: GitHub Releases, In-Cluster Deployment Guide.

Highlighted Details

• Zero cluster-side installation, single binary, no agents or CRDs.
• Real-time topology visualization, event timeline, and service traffic monitoring.
• Comprehensive resource browsing, Helm release management, and GitOps (FluxCD, ArgoCD) workflow monitoring.
• Direct inspection of container image filesystems without pulling images or exec.
• Built-in TLS certificate expiry monitoring.
• AI Integration (MCP beta) allows AI assistants to query cluster state.
• Traffic visualization via Hubble or Caretta.

Maintenance & Community

The project is developed by Skyhook. Specific details on community channels (e.g., Discord, Slack), notable contributors, sponsorships, or a public roadmap are not detailed in the provided README.

Licensing & Compatibility

Radar is licensed under the Apache 2.0 license, which is permissive and generally compatible with commercial use and closed-source linking. It is described as "Open source. Free forever."

Limitations & Caveats

The native desktop application is not yet code-signed. The AI Integration (MCP) feature is in beta. For GitOps tools like FluxCD and ArgoCD, visibility of managed workloads may require connecting Radar to the target cluster or the GitOps controller's cluster, respectively, as they often operate across different cluster contexts.