Kube9 Desktop
Status
Pre-release — active development on GitHub; installers and pricing on alto9.com.
Overview
Kube9 Desktop is a cross-platform Electron IDE for Kubernetes. Desktop Free delivers standalone cluster management (tree navigation, YAML, Helm, Argo CD, integrated terminal). Desktop Pro adds a right-hand AI agent that can pull historical context from kube9-operator and obtain completions through hosted inference (included with subscription) or BYOK when your organization requires its own provider.
Accounts, billing, and operator API keys are managed at app.kube9.io (Kube9 portal).
Key features
Desktop Free
- IDE-style shell — Activity bar, contextual sidebar, and main work area aligned with the VS Code extension iconography
- Multi-cluster — Switch contexts from kubeconfig; manage local, remote, and AWS EKS clusters
- Resource operations — Browse namespaces and workloads; view and edit resources in form and YAML views
- Helm chart manager — Add repos, search charts, install, upgrade, rollback, and uninstall releases
- Argo CD application manager — Detect Argo CD, browse applications, sync/refresh/rollback, and review drift
- Integrated terminal — Bottom panel with active kubectl context display, command history, kubectl completions, and YAML/JSON/table formatted views for captured output
- Appearance — Twenty built-in color themes
Desktop Pro
- AI agent with historical context — Chat in the right auxiliary panel; the agent retrieves operator-backed metrics, events, and trends before requesting a completion
- Hosted inference (default) — Pro subscriptions can use Kube9-hosted models via kube9-api without a separate LLM vendor account
- BYOK (optional) — Configure OpenAI, Anthropic, or other providers with your own API keys
- Operator registration — Link in-cluster operators to your portal account for entitlement and historical data access across clusters
How Pro AI works
- You ask a question in the AI panel (for example, why a pod keeps restarting).
- The agent determines what historical context is needed.
- Relevant data is read from the in-cluster operator (when installed and registered).
- The agent builds a context-rich prompt combining your question, history, and current cluster state.
- A completion is requested through hosted inference or your BYOK provider.
- Guidance is returned in the chat panel.
Install kube9-operator and register it from the portal for the full historical-context path.
Pricing
Pricing and tier details are maintained on the product site. Summary as of current product intent:
| Tier | Highlights |
|---|---|
| Desktop Free | Full IDE tooling; no AI agent |
| Desktop Pro | Free features + AI agent, hosted inference option, operator-backed context |
| Enterprise | Pro features + team billing, volume pricing, and dedicated support (see alto9.com) |
See alto9.com/pricing for current rates and feature comparison.
Getting started
Prerequisites
- Kubernetes cluster (1.24+ recommended)
- kubectl and a valid kubeconfig
- Pro + historical context: kube9-operator installed and registered with an API key from app.kube9.io
Installation
Desktop builds target Windows (NSIS/ZIP), macOS (DMG/ZIP), and Linux (AppImage, deb, rpm). Check alto9.com for download availability.
Developers can build from source:
git clone https://github.com/alto9/kube9-desktop.git
cd kube9-desktop
npm install
npm run devPrivacy
- Routine cluster operations use your local kubeconfig; workload data stays between your machine and the cluster API.
- Operator historical data remains in-cluster unless you register for Pro entitlements (portal/API contract).
- BYOK provider keys stay on your machine; hosted inference uses portal-authenticated calls to kube9-api.