Connecting to a cluster
Kubermeister reads your kubeconfig and treats it as read-only. Switching context or namespace in
the app changes the app’s own memory and settings — never the file on disk. Nothing you do here will
surprise the kubectl in your terminal.
Where it looks
Section titled “Where it looks”The default location, unless you point it somewhere else in Settings → Cluster. The path is chosen through a native file dialog: the app never takes a path typed into the interface.
Authentication
Section titled “Authentication”There is no dependency on kubectl. The client library handles exec credential plugins itself, so a
kubeconfig written by aws eks update-kubeconfig, gcloud container clusters get-credentials or
az aks get-credentials works as it does in a terminal.
Two details make that work outside a terminal:
- Your login shell’s PATH is adopted at startup. Launching from Finder or the Dock otherwise
inherits a bare
/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin, and a kubeconfig that names its plugin by bare command —aws,gke-gcloud-auth-plugin— would not find it. - A failing plugin is reported as a failing plugin. If it is missing or exits non-zero you get an authorisation error naming it, not the plugin’s stderr under a generic failure.
When the kubeconfig will not load
Section titled “When the kubeconfig will not load”A kubeconfig that will not parse never blocks the app. The window opens, and the top bar carries a notice with three ways out: try again, choose a different kubeconfig, or fall back to the default.
Entries that are individually broken are dropped rather than failing the whole file — an entry with
no name, an empty cluster:, or a cluster with no server — which is the same tolerance kubectl
has. Every other context in the file keeps working.
When a context is unusable
Section titled “When a context is unusable”A file can parse and still contain a context whose cluster or user entry is missing, because it was filtered out or removed while the context stayed. The library will happily switch to it and then fail every call with “No active cluster!”.
Kubermeister names the missing entry instead. The context selector marks it, the startup check reports it, and the notice reads Context unusable with a hint to switch. Switching context re-runs the checks, so the notice always describes where you are now.
Read timeouts
Section titled “Read timeouts”Every cluster call has a ceiling, 60 seconds by default, set in Settings → Data. When a call hits it the app both reports the timeout and aborts the request, so a screen that polls cannot pile up requests and credential-plugin processes against a cluster that never answers.
A timed-out list points you at Settings, because how long your cluster may take is your call, not the app’s.