Introduction

Overview

Kubetail is a logging dashboard for Kubernetes that lets you view multiple log streams simultaneously, in real-time. Using Kubetail you can track requests as they move from one ephemeral container to another across services in a cluster.

The main way to interact with Kubetail is to use the Kubetail Dashboard which is available as a webapp that can run on your desktop or in your cluster. Once the webapp is running you can get a birds-eye view of your cluster’s logging activity and also follow multiple log streams in real-time.

Under the hood, Kubetail uses your cluster’s Kubernetes API to retrieve log data and monitor your cluster workloads so your data stays in your possession the entire time. To enable advanced features such as log file sizes and last event timestamps that aren’t available in the Kubernetes API, you need to install Kubetail cluster resources in your cluster (see Advanced Features). Kubetail’s cluster resources are designed from the ground up to be lightweight, secure and to maintain your data privacy.

The Kubetail backend is written in Go and is very resource efficient. A fully-featured Kubetail deployment under a typical workload will use:

Component	Memory	CPU
Dashboard	~21MB	~3.00m
Cluster API	~21MB	~3.00m
Cluster Agent	~13MB	~4.00m

Quickstart

Desktop

Package Managers

First, install the Kubetail CLI tool (kubetail) via your favorite package manager:


# Homebrew
brew install kubetail
 
# Krew
kubectl krew install kubetail
 
# Snap
sudo snap install kubetail
 
# MacPorts
sudo port install kubetail
 
# Winget
winget install Kubetail.Kubetail
 
# Chocolatey
choco install kubetail
 
# Scoop
scoop install kubetail
 
# Ubuntu/Mint
add-apt-repository ppa:kubetail/kubetail
apt update && apt install kubetail-cli
 
# Fedora/CentOS/RHEL
DISTRO="<your_distro>" # Fedora_N | CentOS_N | CentOS_Stream_N | RHEL_N
dnf config-manager addrepo --from-repofile=https://download.opensuse.org/repositories/home:/kubetail/${DISTRO}/home:kubetail.repo
dnf install kubetail-cli
 
# Arch Linux (AUR)
yay -S --noconfirm kubetail-cli
 
# SUSE
zypper addrepo 'https://download.opensuse.org/repositories/home:/kubetail/$releasever/' kubetail
zypper refresh && zypper install kubetail-cli
 
# Gentoo (GURU)
ACCEPT_KEYWORDS="~$(portageq envvar ARCH)" emerge dev-util/kubetail
 
# asdf
asdf plugin add kubetail https://github.com/kubetail-org/asdf-kubetail.git
asdf install kubetail latest
 
# Nix (Flake)
nix profile add github:kubetail-org/kubetail-nix
 
# Nix (Classic)
nix-env -i -f https://github.com/kubetail-org/kubetail-nix/archive/refs/heads/main.tar.gz

Next, start the web dashboard using the serve subcommand:


kubetail serve

This command will open http://localhost:7500/ in your default browser. You can also view logs directly in your terminal using the logs subcommand:


kubetail logs frontend:deployments/web --tail=10 --follow

Have fun tailing your logs!

Shell

First, download and run the install.sh script:


curl -sS https://www.kubetail.com/install.sh | bash

Next, start the web dashboard using the serve subcommand:


kubetail serve

This command will open http://localhost:7500/ in your default browser. You can also view logs directly in your terminal using the logs subcommand:


kubetail logs frontend:deployments/web --tail=10 --follow

Have fun tailing your logs!

Binaries

Download the binary for your OS/Arch (from the latest release binaries ):

Rename the file and make it executable:


mv <filename> kubetail
chmod a+x kubetail

Next, start the web dashboard using the serve subcommand:


kubetail serve

This command will open http://localhost:7500/ in your default browser. You can also view logs directly in your terminal using the logs subcommand:


kubetail logs frontend:deployments/web --tail=10 --follow

Have fun tailing your logs!

Cluster

Helm

First, add the Kubetail org’s chart repository, then install the “kubetail” chart:


helm repo add kubetail https://kubetail-org.github.io/helm-charts/
helm install kubetail kubetail/kubetail --namespace kubetail-system --create-namespace

For more information on how to configure the helm chart, see the chart’s values.yaml file.

To access the web dashboard you can expose it as an ingress using the chart or you can use your usual access methods such as kubectl port-forward:


kubectl port-forward -n kubetail-system svc/kubetail-dashboard 8080:8080

Visit http://localhost:8080

YAML Manifest

First, create a namespace for the Kubetail resources:


kubectl create namespace kubetail-system

Next, choose your authentication mode (cluster or token) and apply the latest manifest file:


# For cluster-based authentication use kubetail-clusterauth.yaml:
kubectl apply -f https://github.com/kubetail-org/helm-charts/releases/latest/download/kubetail-clusterauth.yaml
 
# For token-based authentication use kubetail-tokenauth.yaml:
kubectl apply -f https://github.com/kubetail-org/helm-charts/releases/latest/download/kubetail-tokenauth.yaml

To access the web dashboard you can use your usual access methods such as kubectl port-forward:


kubectl port-forward -n kubetail-system svc/kubetail-dashboard 8080:8080

Visit http://localhost:8080

Glasskube

To install Kubetail using Glasskube , you can select “Kubetail” from the “ClusterPackages” tab in the Glasskube GUI then click “install” or you can run the following command:


glasskube install kubetail

Once Kubetail is installed you can use it by clicking “open” in the Glasskube GUI or by using the open command:


glasskube open kubetail

Minikube

As of minikube v1.36.0, you can install Kubetail as an addon:


minikube addons enable kubetail

Once the Kubetail pods are running in the cluster you can access it via a service:


minikube service -n kubetail-system kubetail-dashboard

Next Steps

To learn more about each Kubetail component you can view the documentation here:

Help

We hope you enjoy using Kubetail! If you need help or want to make a suggestion:

Send us an email at [email protected]
Create a GitHub Issue
Chat with us on Discord
Join our Slack
Send us a tweet