Introduction
An Apache-2.0 desktop client for Kubernetes, built on the API server's discovery and table-printing endpoints.
Loupe is a desktop client for Kubernetes, licensed Apache-2.0. It reads
the kubeconfig kubectl already uses and issues requests directly to
the API server from your machine.
It is a Tauri application: a React and TypeScript frontend over a Rust core that holds the client connection. Builds are published for macOS, Linux and Windows, and it works against any conformant Kubernetes cluster — managed, self-hosted, or a local kind or OrbStack cluster.
Architecture
Loupe has no in-cluster component. There is no operator to install, no service account to create, and no telemetry.
Drawing diagram…
Every request originates from the machine running the app, using the
credentials in the selected kubeconfig context. Authorisation is
therefore whatever RBAC already grants that user: Loupe can read what
kubectl can read, and is refused the same things.
Resource types are resolved through the API server's discovery
endpoints rather than a compiled-in list, and lists are requested as
application/json;as=Table;g=meta.k8s.io;v=v1 so the server returns
the same rows and printer columns that kubectl get renders. Custom
resources are handled by the same path as built-in kinds, which is why
a CRD installed after the binary was built needs no upgrade to browse.