Kubernetes
Kubernetes is a container orchestration engine for the deployment, scaling, and management of containerized applications. Install and enable the Kubernetes plugin for JetBrains Rider to add the following features for managing your Kubernetes cluster:
Coding assistance for Kubernetes resource configuration files.
Coding assistance for Helm charts and templates.
Validation of custom resources with custom resource definition (CRD) specifications.
Coding assistance for Kustomize files: field and local file path completion, quick documentation, and navigation between Kustomize files and patches. The list of related Kustomize files appears in the editor at the top of the open Kustomize patch.
Interaction with the cluster from JetBrains Rider: use the Services tool window to see all resources of the Kubernetes cluster in the current context, jump to relevant resource definitions, view logs for containers running on pods, and much more.
The Kubernetes plugin supports Kubernetes versions 1.6 to 1.28 (you can select the applicable version).
Enable the Kubernetes plugin
This functionality relies on the Kubernetes plugin, which is bundled and enabled in JetBrains Rider by default. If the relevant features aren't available, make sure that you didn't disable the plugin.
Press Ctrl+Alt+S to open settings and then select
.Open the Installed tab, find the Kubernetes plugin, and select the checkbox next to the plugin name.
Specify a custom path to kubectl and helm
JetBrains Rider uses the default kubectl (and helm if you use it) executables as determined by the PATH
environment variable. If you install Kubernetes or Helm in custom directories, you can manually specify the path to them.
In the Settings/Preferences dialog (Ctrl+Alt+S) , select .
In the Path to kubectl executable field, specify a path to the kubectl executable file.
In the Path to helm executable field, specify a path to the helm executable file.
Click Test to check the file location. If it's not found, you can either manually check the file location, or click Install, and JetBrains Rider will download and install missing software.
Use custom Kubernetes configuration files
Information about clusters is stored in a kubeconfig file. JetBrains Rider detects the default kubeconfig file, which is usually $HOME/.kube/config
(this location can be changed by the KUBECONFIG
environment variable). If you want JetBrains Rider to get information about clusters from custom kubeconfig files and not just from the default one, you can specify them in the IDE settings. You can either apply it globally or use a different file for each project.
In the Settings/Preferences dialog (Ctrl+Alt+S) , select .
Under Configuration, click and specify the path to a
kubeconfig
file.If you want to use the configuration file in all projects, select Global in the Scope column. To use it only in the current project, keep the Project scope.
When you add a file, JetBrains Rider validates its syntax and reports errors, if any.
Configure the Kubernetes API version
JetBrains Rider provides completion for configuration key values, navigation to relevant selectors and definitions via gutter icons, specialized inspections that check for deprecated values and required keys, and other assistance features. These depend on the version of the API you are using. The Kubernetes plugin supports Kubernetes versions 1.6 to 1.28. By default, JetBrains Rider sets it to the latest version. However, if your resources use an earlier version, you can change it.
In the Settings/Preferences dialog (Ctrl+Alt+S) , select Languages & Frameworks | Kubernetes.
Change the Kubernetes API version and Kustomize version options as necessary.
Resource configuration files
The Kubernetes plugin provides rich support for resource configuration files in YAML, and only basic support for the JSON format.
Supported features
Feature | YAML | JSON |
---|---|---|
Supported | Supported | |
Supported | Supported | |
|
| |
Predefined templates for common resource kinds | No predefined live templates | |
Supported | Not supported | |
Supported | Not supported | |
Label definitions and selectors | Navigation using gutter icons, find usages, and renaming | Not supported |
Enhancements of the original Kubernetes model | Enums instead of plain strings where applicable | None |
JetBrains Rider recognizes Kubernetes resource configuration files using the following mandatory fields:
apiVersion
: identifies the versioned schema of the object representationkind
: identifies the resource type (for example,Service
,Pod
,Deployment
, and so on)
If both of the previous fields are present in a YAML or JSON file, JetBrains Rider will mark the file with the corresponding Kubernetes icon and enable all available features:
Create a resource file
With JetBrains Rider, you can quickly create configuration files for some of the most popular resources in Kubernetes.
In the Solution Explorer tool window, right-click a folder, select New or press Alt+Insert, and then select Kubernetes Resource.
In the Name field, type your resource name and select the file template from the list.
This will create a new file with its contents based on the selected file template.
Click to create the resource in a cluster. To change the context to which you apply it, click and select a context.
Alternatively, in YAML files, you can use predefined live templates:
kconfigmap
: Kubernetes ConfigMapkcronjob
: Kubernetes CronJobkdeployment
: Kubernetes Deploymentkingress
: Kubernetes Ingresskpod
: Kubernetes Podkresource
: Kubernetes Resource from Scratchkservice
: Kubernetes Service
Disable Kubernetes schema validation
JetBrains Rider validates your Kubernetes files against the Kubernetes API schema. This includes checking it for required keys or possible types of resource.
If your file contains apiVersion
and kind
, but it is not a Kubernetes file, you can disable such validation. You can suppress inspections and change their scope and severity in . Or you can mark a file with a special directive to disable validation in it:
On top of a resource configuration file, add
# nonk8s
.Alternatively, if you already have a warning about an unknown resource, right-click it in the Problems tool window and select .
Manage your cluster
Use the Services tool window to view your cluster, switch between namespaces and contexts, and modify the cluster resources.
Edit kubeconfig
The kubeconfig file contains information about clusters, users, namespaces, and authentication.
Open the Services tool window: select or press Alt+8.
Select a cluster and click (Open kubeconfig File in Editor) on the toolbar. The action is also available when you right-click any Kubernetes object in the Services tool window.
This will open the kubeconfig file in a new tab of the editor. To change the default file opened by this action, you can specify a path to another file in Path to kubeconfig file.
When you change your kubeconfig file, the configuration is automatically reloaded. You can also reload it manually or disable automatic reload by right-clicking a cluster or any Kubernetes object and selecting
.Switch between namespaces
Kubernetes namespaces let you logically isolate resources within your cluster. With JetBrains Rider, you can quickly switch between namespaces.
Open the Services tool window: select or press Alt+8.
Right-click your cluster or any resource, select Namespaces (or click on the toolbar), and select the required namespace.
To view resources of all namespaces, select All Namespaces.
Add contexts
To interact with Kubernetes clusters, add contexts in the Services tool window.
Open the Services tool window: select or press Alt+8.
Click , select
, and then select the source for Kubernetes contexts to be added:From Default Directory: get contexts from the default location (usually
$HOME/.kube/config
).From Custom kubeconfigs: select any kubeconfig file from your computer.
Paste kubeconfig Content: paste the kubeconfig content into the textarea that opens.
In the Add Contexts window that opens, select a context that you want to add and click Add Contexts.
Added Kubernetes contexts will be available in the Services tool window. You can open each of them in a separate tab by right-clicking a context and selecting Open in New Tab.
Change context
When you create a resource file locally, you can select the context to which to apply the resource by clicking . You can also choose it in advance, in JetBrains Rider settings.
In the Settings/Preferences dialog (Ctrl+Alt+S) , select Languages & Frameworks | Kubernetes.
In the Context to use list, select a context to be used when applying local Kubernetes resources.
Modify cluster resources
Open the Services tool window: select or press Alt+8.
Right-click a resource and select View YAML.
This will open the configuration file of the selected resource in a new tab of the editor. When you change a field, modified lines are highlighted in the gutter. You can click the highlighted area in the gutter to quickly preview or rollback changes.
Click to apply changes to the current context and namespace.
When you modify a resource configuration file, a toolbar appears at the top right. It lets you apply the changes, delete the resource, preview the diff, and roll back the changes.
Delete resources
You can delete a resource in any of the following ways:
In the Services tool window, right-click a resource and select Delete.
In the Services tool window, select a resource and click (Delete Resource) on the toolbar.
If the resource YAML file is opened in the editor, hover over it and click . You can also click here to change the context where you want to delete the resource.
View logs
You can view logs in pods and deployments.
Open the Services tool window: select or press Alt+8.
Select a pod or a deployment. On the right side of the Services tool window, click one of the icons:
(Follow Log) to live tail logs of the selected resource with the
--follow=true
flag.(Download Log) to save the log file.
Both actions are also available when you right-click a pod or a deployment.
If you have multiple containers in the pod, you must select one from the displayed list of containers.
You can configure log saving options in the IDE settings (Ctrl+Alt+S) under
:If you want to save logs in a location other than Scratches, specify a directory in Path to download logs to. Or select Ask where to save log before downloading to prompt you for the location every time you save logs.
If you want to include the log timestamp in the filename, select Append timestamp to log file name.
Create Secrets
With JetBrains Rider, you can quickly create Kubernetes Secrets.
Open the Services tool window: select or press Alt+8.
Select a cluster, expand Configuration, right-click Secrets, and select Create New Secret.
In the Create New Secret window that opens, specify the secret name, type, and namespace. To speed up secret creation, JetBrains Rider adds required data or annotation keys depending on the selected secret type.
In the Data and Annotations section, click Value and enter values for existing keys, or you can click and choose the way to provide values:
Add Manually to manually enter the value.
Use File Data to select a file (for example, an SSH key file or a Docker config.json) to use the file contents as the value.
You can view all your Secrets in the Services tool window, under Configuration. Once a Secret is created, you can start typing its name in secretName
fields of your Pod configuration. This will invoke completion for Secret names available in the cluster or in your project.
Keep your cluster information up to date
To keep JetBrains Rider synchronized with your clusters, use the following actions:
Reload Configuration to get the latest changes in your kubeconfig file.
Refresh Resources to get the latest changes in your Kubernetes resources.
Reload configuration
By default, the configuration is automatically reloaded when you change your kubeconfig file. You can still reload it manually.
Open the Services tool window: select or press Alt+8.
Right-click a cluster and select
.
If you want to disable automatic reload, clear the Reload Configuration Automatically option.
You can also check this setting in the IDE settings (Ctrl+Alt+S), in
.Automatically refresh cluster
You can refresh your cluster resources manually by right-clicking a cluster and selecting Refresh. Or you can enable automatic refresh.
To enable automatic refresh for a particular cluster, right-click it and select Refresh Cluster Automatically.
Alternatively, select a cluster, click , and select Refresh Cluster Automatically.
To enable automatic refresh of all your clusters, right-click any cluster and select
.The green icon next to the cluster name or resource type indicates that the automatic refresh is enabled. Otherwise, the icon is yellow.
Helm support
Helm is a tool for managing Kubernetes applications. Helm charts are packages of pre-configured resource definitions that you run inside a Kubernetes cluster. A chart contains a description of the package Chart.yaml and one or more templates used to generate Kubernetes manifest files.
Coding assistance for Helm charts and templates includes code completion, refactorings, inspections, quick-fixes, and quick documentation. Code completion includes values of dependencies from the specified repository (by default, from Helm Hub).
In Go template directives, JetBrains Rider provides completion for Helm built-in objects and for values passed from a values.yaml
file or from a custom values file. You can press Ctrl+B to navigate to a source of object values, for example, to a child chart value imported into a parent chart.
In template objects, you can use code folding: press Ctrl+NumPad Plus and Ctrl+NumPad Minus to toggle between values and directives. You can also hover over a value to expand and show the directive.
You can also use gutter icons to navigate between label definitions and label selectors, and between overridden and overriding values.
Create a new Helm chart
In the Project tool window, right-click a folder and select .
In the Create New Helm Chart window that opens, enter a name for the chart.
This runs the helm create command, which adds all the basic files required to get started:
.helmignore: Patterns to ignore when building packages
Chart.yaml: A basic chart description with metadata
values.yaml: Default values for chart templates
charts/: Directory for sub-charts
templates/: Directory for chart definitions
_helpers.tpl: Partials and functions for your templates
NOTES.txt: Information that is printed out after a chart is deployed
deployment.yaml: Example Kubernetes deployment definition
ingress.yaml: Example Kubernetes ingress definition
service.yaml: Example Kubernetes service definition
Preview the result of Helm template rendering
If a template file is opened in the editor, click on the right side of the editor.
Alternatively, right-click the template file in your project, point to Helm, and select Helm Template.
This runs the helm template command that renders a chart template. The rendered preview opens inside the diff viewer to compare it with the original template file.
Update external dependencies
Right-click the chart, point to Helm, and click Helm Dependency Update.
This runs the helm dependency update command.
In Helm 2, dependencies should be specified in the requirements.yaml file. This action also generates or updates requirements.lock.
In Helm 3, dependencies should be specified in the Chart.yaml file. If you specify the dependencies in the wrong file, JetBrains Rider provides an inspection with a quick-fix to move them.
There is also a gutter icon for updating dependencies in both the requirements.yaml and Chart.yaml files respectively.
Examine a chart for possible issues
Right-click the chart, point to Helm, and click Helm Lint.
This runs the helm lint command that executes a series of tests to discover possible problems without actually installing the chart.
Custom resource definitions support
If you extend the Kubernetes cluster with custom resources, JetBrains Rider can validate them with custom resource definition (CRD) specifications.
Specify the path to CRD specifications
Press Ctrl+Alt+S to open settings and then select
.Click and either select a local CRD file or specify a URL. Then click OK.
Use and to rearrange the list of CRD files. This defines the priority for conflicting definitions: JetBrains Rider will use the lowest one if it is defined in more than one file.
By default, CRDs are applied to the current project only. Change the Scope: option to IDE
if you want a certain CRD to be available for any project that you open with this IDE instance.
To load the CRD from the running Kubernetes cluster, enable Use API schema from the active cluster if available.
You can view CRDs for the current cluster, including all their applied resources, under the Kubernetes node of the Services tool window.
The Kubernetes plugin supports CRD files of the following types:
CustomResourceDefinition files in YAML
The following example shows a simple CustomResourceDefinition specification for a custom resource stable.example.com/v1
of the kind CronTab
. Obligatory fields to identify the resource are metadata.name
, spec.group
, spec.versions
, and spec.names
.
OpenAPI v2.0 schema in JSON
The following example shows a simple OpenAPI v2.0 schema with a CRD specification for a custom resource sample/v1
of the kind Config
. The root definition of the custom resource must contain the x-kubernetes-group-version-kind
field with the specified group, version, and kind. In the example, the root.Definition
object uses a build
property to reference the some.Definition
object.
CRD validation restrictions
JetBrains Rider does not support the following OpenAPI v3 schema features:
multipleOf
maximum
exclusiveMaximum
minimum
exclusiveMinimum
maxLength
minLength
pattern
maxItems
minItems
uniqueItems
maxProperties
minProperties
allOf
oneOf
anyOf
not
format
default
nullable
readOnly
writeOnly
xml
externalDocs
example
deprecated
Productivity tips
If you use the features described here frequently, the following tips may be helpful:
Assign shortcuts
You can assign a keyboard shortcut for Kubernetes actions.
In the Settings/Preferences dialog (Ctrl+Alt+S) , select Keymap.
Type
kubernetes
in the search field, then double-click an action to set a shortcut for it.
Alternatively, you can use the Find Action dialog Ctrl+Shift+A, type the necessary action and, and press Alt+Enter.
For example, you can assign a shortcut to Interact with Cluster to quickly open the context menu while modifying a resource configuration file.
Configure code folding
By default, JetBrains Rider uses code folding to render value references in Helm templates and definitions in Kubernetes configuration files as the actual values. You can click the value to expand it or press Ctrl+NumPad Plus and Ctrl+NumPad Minus to toggle folding. If you want to see the references and definitions expanded by default, do the following:
In the Settings/Preferences dialog (Ctrl+Alt+S) , select .
On the Code Folding page, clear the necessary checkboxes:
Kubernetes: value references in Helm templates
Kubernetes: EnvVar definitions in YAML files
Kubernetes: ExecAction definitions in YAML files