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Getting Started

Deploy Kwirth in your Kubernetes cluster in under 5 minutes. No external dependencies, no complex configuration.

Prerequisites

RequirementMinimum versionNotes
Kubernetes1.24+Any distribution: EKS, GKE, AKS, k3s, Kind, Docker Desktop
Helm3.xRequired for Helm install method
kubectl1.24+For manual install or port-forwarding
ClusterRole—Kwirth needs read access to cluster resources

Installation

Option 1 — Helm (recommended)

Add the Helm repository 
helm repo add kwirth https://kwirthmagnify.github.io/kwirth/helm-charts
helm repo update
Install Kwirth 
helm install kwirth kwirth/kwirth \
  --namespace kwirth \
  --create-namespace
Access the UI 
kubectl port-forward -n kwirth svc/kwirth 3883:3883
# Open http://localhost:3883

Option 2 — kubectl apply

kubectl apply -f \
  https://github.com/kwirthmagnify/kwirth/releases/latest/download/kwirth.yaml

kubectl get pods -n kwirth --watch

First Login

On first boot, Kwirth creates a default admin user with password admin. You will be prompted to change the password on first login.

Warning: Always change the default admin password before exposing Kwirth via an Ingress or public LoadBalancer.

Connect your first cluster

Kwirth can monitor any number of Kubernetes clusters. The cluster where Kwirth runs is auto-connected. To add a remote cluster:

  1. In the Kwirth UI, go to Settings → Manage clusters list
  2. Click NEW and provide the API server URL and a proper API Key
  3. Test the connection and save

Open your first channel

Use the resource selector just below the top bar. You need to specify what is your cluster and your target 'view' (the whole cluster, one or more namespaces, one or more controller, one or more pods or even a set of containers belonging to different pods). Then choose a channel type, for example:

Click the ADD button and you will get a new tab added. On the tab settinigs just select START and the magic begins.

Install Kwirth Desktop

Kwirth Magnify is available as a standalone desktop application in two distributions. Both connect to any Kwirth instance and support local kubeconfig clusters out of the box — no cluster-side Kwirth installation required for basic use.

Info: Kwirth Desktop has two connection modes: it can connect directly to any Kubernetes cluster using your local kubeconfig credentials (no Kwirth pod required), or it can connect to a cluster where Kwirth is already installed to take advantage of all server-side features.

Electron build

The original desktop build, based on Electron. Available for Windows (.exe) and Linux (.AppImage).

⬇ Download Electron build from GitHub Releases

Tauri build New

A lighter, faster build powered by Tauri. Smaller binary, lower memory footprint. Available for Windows (.msi) and Linux (.AppImage).

⬇ Download Tauri build from GitHub Releases

Next steps