Volodymyr Stoiko 12a8993752 🔒 decide API gating from tap.auth.enabled alone
The chart answered three unrelated questions with one switch: whether the
Hub gates its API, whether the dashboard must log in to fetch a licence
key, and which product features exist. So a default install rendered
AUTH_ENABLED=true purely to make the cloud login reachable, and
tap.auth.enabled=true with type=saml rendered AUTH_ENABLED=false,
shipping an unauthenticated Hub to an operator who had asked for SSO.

kubeshark.authEnabled is now tap.auth.enabled verbatim. AUTH_TYPE is the
configured type verbatim, instead of being rewritten to 'default'
whenever cloud licensing or demo mode was on. Settings that cannot work
now fail the render rather than being quietly rewritten into something
that does.

The dashboard's REACT_APP_AUTH_ENABLED was a second, hand-maintained
copy of the old expression with an extra internetConnectivity term, so
air-gapped installs rendered a gated Hub against a dashboard that never
mounted a login. It uses the same helper now.

The worker hub token is projected unconditionally. Gating it on the auth
decision coupled a DaemonSet rollout to that decision, so anything
enabling auth without re-rendering workers left them holding no token
against a Hub that required one.

The CLI no longer writes AUTH_ENABLED, AUTH_TYPE or
AUTH_SAML_IDP_METADATA_URL. Those come from the values the release was
installed with; writing them from the CLI's own config meant a plain
'kubeshark tap' against an SSO release could silently reconfigure or
disable its authentication.
2026-08-17 06:56:45 +00:00
2026-05-19 02:00:17 -07:00
2022-11-30 04:50:12 +03:00
2025-03-01 22:23:24 +02:00

Kubeshark

Release Docker pulls Discord Slack

Network Observability for SREs & AI Agents

Live Demo · Docs


Kubeshark indexes cluster-wide network traffic at the kernel level using eBPF — delivering instant answers to any query using network, API, and Kubernetes semantics.

What you can do:

  • Download Retrospective PCAPs — cluster-wide packet captures filtered by nodes, time, workloads, and IPs. Store PCAPs for long-term retention and later investigation.
  • Visualize Network Data — explore traffic matching queries with API, Kubernetes, or network semantics through a real-time dashboard.
  • See Encrypted Traffic in Plain Text — automatically decrypt TLS/mTLS traffic using eBPF, with no key management or sidecars required.
  • Integrate with AI — connect your favorite AI assistant (e.g. Claude, Copilot) to include network data in AI-driven workflows like incident response and root cause analysis.

Kubeshark


Get Started

helm repo add kubeshark https://helm.kubeshark.com
helm install kubeshark kubeshark/kubeshark
kubectl port-forward svc/kubeshark-front 8899:80

Open http://localhost:8899 in your browser. You're capturing traffic.

For production use, we recommend using an ingress controller instead of port-forward.

Connect an AI agent via MCP:

brew install kubeshark
claude mcp add kubeshark -- kubeshark mcp

MCP setup guide →


Network Data for AI Agents

Kubeshark exposes cluster-wide network data via MCP — enabling AI agents to query traffic, investigate API calls, and perform root cause analysis through natural language.

"Why did checkout fail at 2:15 PM?" "Which services have error rates above 1%?" "Show TCP retransmission rates across all node-to-node paths" "Trace request abc123 through all services"

Works with Claude Code, Cursor, and any MCP-compatible AI.

MCP Demo

MCP setup guide →

AI Skills

Open-source, reusable skills that teach AI agents domain-specific workflows on top of Kubeshark's MCP tools:

Skill Description
Network RCA Retrospective root cause analysis — snapshots, dissection, PCAP extraction, trend comparison
KFL KFL (Kubeshark Filter Language) expert — writes, debugs, and optimizes traffic filters

Install as a Claude Code plugin:

/plugin marketplace add kubeshark/kubeshark
/plugin install kubeshark

Or clone and use directly — skills trigger automatically based on conversation context.

AI Skills docs →


Query with API, Kubernetes, and Network Semantics

Kubeshark indexes cluster-wide network traffic by parsing it according to protocol specifications, with support for HTTP, gRPC, Redis, Kafka, DNS, and more. A single KFL query can combine all three semantic layers — Kubernetes identity, API context, and network attributes — to pinpoint exactly the traffic you need. No code instrumentation required.

KFL query combining API, Kubernetes, and network semantics

KFL reference → · Traffic indexing →

Workload Dependency Map

A visual map of how workloads communicate, showing dependencies, traffic volume, and protocol usage across the cluster.

Service Map

Learn more →

Traffic Retention & PCAP Export

Capture and retain raw network traffic cluster-wide, including decrypted TLS. Download PCAPs scoped by time range, nodes, workloads, and IPs — ready for Wireshark or any PCAP-compatible tool. Store snapshots in cloud storage (S3, Azure Blob, GCS) for long-term retention and cross-cluster sharing.

Traffic Retention

Snapshots guide → · Cloud storage →


Features

Feature Description
Traffic Snapshots Point-in-time snapshots with cloud storage (S3, Azure Blob, GCS), PCAP export for Wireshark
Traffic Indexing Real-time and delayed L7 indexing with request/response matching and full payloads
Protocol Support HTTP, gRPC, GraphQL, Redis, Kafka, DNS, and more
TLS Decryption eBPF-based decryption without key management, included in snapshots
AI Integration MCP server + open-source AI skills for network RCA and traffic filtering
KFL Query Language CEL-based query language with Kubernetes, API, and network semantics
100% On-Premises Air-gapped support, no external dependencies

Install

Method Command
Helm helm repo add kubeshark https://helm.kubeshark.com && helm install kubeshark kubeshark/kubeshark
Homebrew brew install kubeshark && kubeshark tap
Binary Download

Installation guide →


Contributing

We welcome contributions. See CONTRIBUTING.md.

License

Apache-2.0

S
Description
The API traffic analyzer for Kubernetes providing real-time K8s protocol-level visibility, capturing and monitoring all traffic and payloads going in, out and across containers, pods, nodes and clusters.. Think TCPDump and Wireshark re-invented for Kubernetes
Readme
168 MiB
Languages
Go 92%
Makefile 5.1%
Go Template 1.6%
Shell 1.3%