vladimirvivien/ktop

A top-like tool for your Kubernetes cluster.

Following the tradition of Unix/Linux top tools, ktop is a tool that displays useful metrics information about nodes, pods, and other workload resources running in a Kubernetes cluster.

Features

• Real-Time Monitoring - Continuously updated view of nodes, pods, and containers
• Drill-Down Navigation - Explore from cluster overview → node → pod → container logs
• Zero Cluster Installation - Runs locally using your kubeconfig; no agents or server-side components
• Works Anywhere kubectl Works - Connects through the Kubernetes API; no direct node access required
• Streaming Container Logs - Real-time logs with filtering, timestamps, line wrap, and full-screen mode
• Multiple Metrics Sources - Support Prometheus for enhanced metrics, Metrics-Server, or no-metrics as fallback
• Graceful Degradation - Works even without metrics infrastructure by showing resource requests/limits
• Single Binary - Download and run; no dependencies beyond a valid kubeconfig

Installation

kubectl plugin

kubectl krew install ktop
kubectl ktop

Requires krew plugin manager.

Homebrew

brew tap vladimirvivien/oss-tools
brew install ktop

Go install

go install github.com/vladimirvivien/ktop@latest

Binary download

Download from GitHub Releases.

Quick Start

With a valid kubeconfig file ($KUBECONFIG or ~/.kube/config):

# Start ktop with default settings
ktop

# Use a specific context
ktop --context my-cluster

# Filter to a namespace
ktop --namespace production

# Use Prometheus for enhanced metrics
ktop --metrics-source=prometheus

Documentation

See ktop's website for documetation.